


Bloodstream

by byzinha



Series: baby batcat [10]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CHAPTER 9 - non-con and rape, Multi, careful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:50:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 95,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4064032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byzinha/pseuds/byzinha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the third spring after Barbara was kidnapped by the Ogre, three things happened: little Barbie Gordon was born, Bruce decided to leave and Ivy disappeared mysteriously. Now, following the breadcrumb clues left by someone that was supposed to be dead, Selina leaves Gotham to find Ivy and, in the meantime, hide her own secret from the people she loves.</p><p>Watch for chapter 9 warnings on the additional tags</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A PROLOGUE IN THREE ACTS

**Author's Note:**

> This time I present to you all a multi-chaptered DC hot mess. It's Selina centered, set in the future, but it'll also feature many other characters of DC, from the Superman universe to the Flash and maybe even a little bit of Arrow, but mostly using the DCTV interpretation. Now, let me tell you that I'm not a comic reader, I'm just an encyclopedia eater and TV watcher, so I might suck most of the time. **I want you to be warned that this has a very high chance to suck**.
> 
> My dear **Louisa** (gameofgotham on tumblr) agreed to be my beta reader, so my text is a little bit less sucky, but that doesn't mean that the story is good.
> 
> So just so you know, it is mostly in Selina's POV, it has a bit of Ivy's origin story and a bit of the origin of Catwoman. It also might be me not accepting the "fact" that a certain character might be "dead" in Gotham, shhh.
> 
> Of all means, **Gotham, its characters and the others characters that I borrowed are not mine and I have no claim on them**.
> 
> I hope you get to read it and I really hope you like it, even if it's just a little bit.
> 
> Also, it'd be really, really nice if you leave you review, thank you very much and I'll see you again! :D

\- Act one: the slow burn -

When Barbara Kean was kidnaped by the Ogre, brainwashed and turned into a crazy killing machine, Ivy Pepper and Selina Kyle, her roommates, figured it was time to go.

For Ivy, it just felt like the right moment to start hovering around someplace where she could learn things that interested her and for Selina, she rather go back to the streets.

It was how Ivy started to sniff around Gotham U and the herbarium, getting to know a shit ton of new plants that would be just the tip of the iceberg of her knowledge and it was how Selina's path crossed Fish Mooney's.

Sure Ivy only knew about the coolest gig ever from word of mouth after it was long over and right, Selina liked to brag about how scary and awesome it was, although she'd never explain how she escaped, but that wasn't even a big deal.

At the end of the day, was it the municipal garden, was it the abandoned hidden place in the Narrows that Fish had offered to her little army in those few glorious days, the two girls were alone with nowhere else to go and Barbara knew it somewhere deep in her mind and although it was surprising for Jim Gordon to hear his ex ask him to find the two kids, Barbara couldn't quite place his bewilderment, after all, she was in a mental hospital, but she knew what she was doing. The meds made sure of it.

"Barbara wants us to  _what_?" Selina asked to a just as skeptical Jim when he passed along the message. He was still very much pissed at her behavior at said gig episode and she wouldn't judge him on that. She wasn't sorry either.

"Find Ivy and go back to her place. She's letting you two stay there while she's gone."

"We can't afford the bills." She stated. "Nor get actual jobs, we're too young."

"She has her savings and trusted me to pass a certain amount every month so you can do groceries and pay the bills."

Selina was almost out of words.

"She's crazy."

Jim didn't disagree.

"Maybe. Or maybe she just really likes you two and wants to help."

For several months, neither Selina nor Ivy would hold their breath for that, but when the money kept going it got easier to believe. They really had gotten into Barbara's good side, it became more and more common for them to go visit her at the hospital (not Arkham, she managed to stay away from Arkham) and by the time the woman was back home, the three of them had formed an inevitable bond.

Although the dynamic between the girls was a tad odd – Ivy and Selina would never be completely comfortable in each other's company – they grew to have something very similar to sisterhood. Barbara would take Selina to the gallery and Ivy to fancy meetings with intellectual people. The older teenager had a sharp eye for beautiful things that Barbara soon noted would be a great addition to the gallery. The younger teen was a little genius that was being wasted on the streets. A true plant lover, the few changes she applied n Kean's apartment spread around like weed and just as fast every botanic in town knew about her.

Somewhere between Selina's realization that she was stepping up to replace Barbara at the gallery and Ivy's invitation to actually be inside one of Gotham U's botanic labs, in which the acclaimed Dr. Jason Woodrue was the head of researchers, Jim came back to their lives.

The slow burn of his return started when Barbara still was hospitalized. He'd show up randomly when off duty to check if everything was alright, especially when Barbara went home. Was she having any bad reaction? Were the girls helping? How was everyone holding up? And, at first, Barbara didn't want the attention. Too much water had already passed under that bridge she and Jim had once built, but as he drew closer to her and further from Leslie (without even noticing it), they found themselves enjoying each other's company just like old times and it was rather exciting.

By the following February, Jim had put a ring on it and for once Barbara felt that she wouldn't ruin things up. This time it would work out. And it did.

In the spring of the third year after her kidnaping, an oddly hot month of April for Gotham's taste, their family was growing up and fine. The nine months bump was heavy in Barbara's stomach, Ivy had managed to do so well on her SATs that Gotham U had no choice but to accept her at only 15 and she just had successfully concluded her first year, Jim was a lieutenant and Selina was running the business with the energy that only an ambitious 17 years old can have. Her meds were holding up, she was about to have a baby girl and it was working out.

Everything was just working perfectly out.

 

\- Act two: the fall out –

"Selina?" someone called the girl in one spring afternoon of that warm April. The sun was hanging in an angle especially flattering for the sculptures that she ordered to be put in some strategic places and they looked marvelous. When she turned around, there was a lady coming in her direction.

With a smile, Selina met the woman halfway. That lady was there just that morning and bought a rather expensive painting.

"Have you changed your mind and decided to buy something else?" the girl asked. "Perhaps that beautiful fountain."

The woman smiled charmed, but shook her head.

"I'm sure I'd have to take you with me to decorate my house, Selina, you have a heart for this. I could never accomplish the same visual. She said. She was a lovely lady, her hair just beginning to grey, and she had a good taste in jewelry. "I'm afraid I'm here again for a much less exciting reason. You see, I lost one of my bracelets." Showing her sparkly left wrist to Selina, the girl gasped as if shocked, but truly the feeling was how she could notice anything missing (there were so many) and the woman continued. "I think it fell off, maybe the lock broke? So I'm retracing my steps in the hopes to find it. Do you think you can help me?"

With wide eyes, Selina took a deep breath.

"I don't know, maybe. No one reported me anything today, but I can check. What did it look like?"

"Uh… diamonds with a silver cord?" she said it like a question and Selina started to walk to the back of the gallery, signaling for the lady to follow her. "It had seven diamonds, the middle one larger than the others, but it was also quite average."

Selina nodded, taking her words the way she learned to take rich people's words: as if they weren't spoken. Seven diamond, one of them bigger than the others, and silver.  _It was quite average_. Rich people could say such stupid things.

"Particularly, I didn't find anything today." Selina told the woman as she unlocked the door to the office. "There are four people beside me working here and I guarantee you that they are all reliable. If they found your bracelet…" she pulled a huge cardbox from one of her shelves and put it on top of her desk. "it's here. It's in our lost and found."

She smiled and opened the box. It had more things than one would think would find, but not enough to fill the whole thing.

"Oh." The lady whispered and started to look through the things.

Each item was inside a transparent plastic bag with the date and the name of the person who found it. From cellphones to fur coats, scarfs, watches, none of them were the woman's bracelet.

"I'm sorry, it's not here." She apologizes and Selina shook it off.

"No worries. It was worth the shot, right?"

Smiling, the lady agreed.

"I'd never know if I didn't come!"

"Exactly. Now, if you want to leave your number and name, we'll contact you first thing if someone finds it."

"Would you do that? My daughter gave it to me and I love it very much."

"Sure, of course we would."

Selina offered an notepad and the woman wrote down her number before they left the office. It was almost time to close and they were halfway through the space when the woman stopped.

"You know what, Selina?" she asked, her eyes in the fountain just a few feet away from them. "I think you're right, I want that fountain in my front yard."

"Well," the girl smiled. "What are we waiting for, then?"

[...]

Barbara Kean's gallery was open from Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 3pm and was making fast money ever since Selina landed a job there at the age of 15. Now, two years later, she knew well what to sell, what to buy, how to make people sell and buy what she wanted to buy and sell. It was easy, really, because rich people didn't care about how much money they were spending and they never noticed when she'd take something else.

One fact about Selina Kyle: her hands still were light.

Of course she wouldn't steal from Barbara or Bruce, but other people were other people. So every now and then one would see Selina close the gallery at exact 3pm, double check, get in her car (the first thing she bought with her money) and drive to the Narrows, where she'd enter in one of the Penguin's underground banks and she'd leave something behind – usually cufflinks, money or, this time, a diamonds bracelet.

It was always a smooth process, but that afternoon, as she was rolling out of the Narrows, she spotted something… odd.

She parked the car in the next corner and went back to the alley that caught her attention and she couldn't place what bothered her the most in the scene.

"V?" Selina called and the redhead girl looked up at her. The only sign of her displeasure of seeing the other was a subtle twitch of her eye that Selina only caught because she knew Ivy too well. "The heck you doing?"

To diverge the question, Ivy stood up and smiled.

"I could ask you the same, Selly."

Selina shook her head with faked humor.

"What is it you're selling?" she asked and Ivy shrugged.

"Stuff." She said opening her hand to look at the vial she was holding more closely. Someone passed by Selina, a guy, and went straight to Ivy. He handed her a few bucks and she gave him the vial, no one said a word.

"Where are you cooking these  _stuff_?" Selina insisted and Ivy smiled again, now with mischief. "Please don't say school."

"Then I won't say it." Ivy replied and Selina's eyes widened, she looked around with her hands on her waist, unable to know what to say. "Look, Cat, you should go."

Instead, Selina stepped closer.

"I thought you were happy, V." she said, the desperation tasting bitter in her tongue. "Weren't you dating that shrink-wannabe of yours? Aren't things good with Jim now?"

"She has a name, you know that and yes. I'm super happy."

"Then why are you in the Narrows selling drugs? Don't you think Jim will find out?"

"He's not a Narc and I'm kind of working here, you know?"

"You don't need to work!" the older girl snapped. "You're the brightest sixteen years old of Gotham, people will throw money at you if you say so,  _Pamela_. Sell drugs will ruin it."

"First of all, you don't call me Pamela around here." Ivy said, suddenly in Selina's face. "Second of all, I like you better when you mind your own business. I thought that we had made it clear years ago."

"Do you think your girlfriend will be okay with this little job of yours?"

Ivy shrugged.

"I don't know. Do you think Bruce would be okay with this little kleptomania of yours?"

It was a slap right in Selina's cheek and she stepped back, shocked to know that Ivy knew about it.

"I'm not…"

"Let me remind you again that I'm not an idiot." The younger girl said, fixing the length of her Gotham U bag strap with disinterest before looking right into Selina's eyes. "Harleen knows what I'm doing, it's a bit of an experiment she's keeping an eye on too. Does Bruce know that you're a pathological stealer?"

"He's always known that I'm a criminal." Selina replied, already sharpened after the first instant of shock, but Ivy just shook her head.

"Except… that you  _aren't_  anymore, right? Good house cat you've became, helping with the chores, taking the family business under your care. It doesn't matter that you wouldn't go back to school, you don't need it, you're the perfect daughter."

"You're the perfect daughter too." Selina reminded the other.

"I know." Ivy insisted. "Who doesn't  _love_  a little genius to show around, right?"

"V."

The bitterness was evident in Ivy's words and she knew she was taking it too far. She had to be out of there fast anyway if she wanted to meet Harleen in time for their little business in Arkham and that argument with Selina was tiring her, so she started to step away and out of the alley.

"The thing is, Selly, that Babs and Jim are blinded by their love for us. So is your billionaire. That's why they don't see us from who we really are, but I  _know_  you. And you're in no position to call me on my shit."

Ivy had a point, which made Selina sigh closing her eyes for two seconds. When she opened them again, Ivy already was back in the street, so she hurried to follow her.

"V! Hold on! Where are you going? I can give you a ride."

Laughing, Ivy turned around.

"Fuck off, Cat. Don't tell me what to do." And when she turned back again. "Out of my way!" she snapped at some pedestrian who quickly hopped aside scared.

How dare Selina feel the right to tell her whatever it was she tried to tell? Selina was a train wreck with her fancy job and fancy boyfriend who'd cheat on her every time she wasn't around and to come to  _her_  turf and call her Pamela above all?

"Drop me two blocks from Arkham in any direction, please." She informed as soon as she hopped into a cab. The driver tipped his cap and moved along.

In the Narrows, it was hard to be rid of Ivy Pepper, the framed Mario Pepper's daughter. After her mom cut her wrists and she was adopted upstate, her adoptive family gave her a new name, Pamela, as if she was so willing to start from the bottom that she'd even want a new name.

At the time, she didn't. She hated the idea to the core, gathered her things and ran back to the neighborhood she knew so well. But as she stood at Babs' and went back to school, she dug the name she had for a few weeks, giving it a shot. It stuck.

It wasn't Pamela Isley who'd stay home and help Barbara figure out the bills and water the plants. But everyone at home knew that in Gotham U and every single laboratory she ever landed feet on, Ivy Pepper wouldn't be allowed to stay.

Although Ivy teased Selina about her secrets, there was something she was keeping from Harleen, though. For the psychology student, Ivy was her second name. For Harleen Quinzel, Ivy Pepper was Pamela I. Isley and if it was on Ivy, the other girl would never know.

Ivy met Harleen in her second month as a college student. She was in the herbarium with Dr. Woodrue when this blonde girl with voracious eyes came to ask him something. She was a biology minor with a thing for chemistry and when Ivy accidentally answered one of her questions (she wasn't counting on anyone hearing her voice), it caught her attention. Later, she was surprised to see Harleen outside the lab when she went out for lunch and they immediately hit it off.

It was something from another world, really, like they knew each other for ages.

Harleen, now nineteen, was in her second year of psychology, had moved to Gotham because of the college and was hoping to get an internship in Arkham.

"I want to study the criminally insane." She had told Ivy. "It always fascinated me and I heard that Arkham was the best place for it."

Not long after that, at one of the college's parties, she found out that Ivy was a bit of a drug dealer.

"I thought your father was a cop." She mentioned and Ivy made a face. Her real father was a huge, massive dick, she kind of blamed him for not being into guys, but he  _was_  her father. And Jim Gordon had his share on his death. Ivy was constantly dealing with the trouble of knowing it pretty well and also being grateful for all Jim had done for her ever since Barbara was in the hospital.

"He's not my father." She said anyway and Harleen looked intrigued, so she explained. "I'm adopted."

She wasn't. None of the girls were officially adopted, because their files were too thick and they decided to save themselves the trouble, so they just sort of stayed there and never left.

"It doesn't change the fact that you live with a cop and you're selling drugs." Harleen pondered, to which Ivy smiled.

"You're in Gotham, babe."

It was the same night Harleen kissed her for the first time and also when they started to trace a plan that involved some illegal cocking and human testing.

Although it could be pretty soon to tell, her relationship with Harleen could only progress, not only as a couple, but as madly awesome scientists. Together, they were developing a drug to clear people's mind, a combination that the future psychologist believed would help her work.

Harleen believed that the criminally insane mind had a fog in it that messed with the person's notion of right and wrong and once this fog is cleared, the person is practically cured.

Ivy had been selling the drug in the Narrows for a couple of weeks already, a raw version of what it could actually become with a few more tests and it was promising, but Harleen landed an internship in Arkham that semester and couldn't wait to start to see results.

It was risky, they knew, but the chances of someone missing some drughead in the Narrows or loonie from Arkham were pretty low, so Ivy was heading there with three vials, glee and expectation,

The cab dropped her where she wanted and she paid the driver with drug money, walking happily towards the gate where she'd meet Harleen. She busied herself sending a text to inform that she was only one block away and when Ivy turned her attention back to her way, she noticed that she was not alone.

She slowed down, counting the people around her – seven guys much taller than her, all looking like pawns – and didn't like her result. Jim had made them take self-defense classes and she liked the extra-credit that it's give in Gotham U, but Ivy knew well that she wouldn't be able to take down seven guys. Damn, she doubted that even Selina could. According to her calcs, she could kill a couple with the pocket knife she had hidden, hurt two or three more, but there would still enough left to get her down and you could only guess what those big bad wolves wanted from her.

Her mad thinking came to a stop, though, as well as her feet, when someone stepped in front of her, someone she knew and that someone had a pretty smile to go with her lab coat and high heels.

Ivy thought about reminding her that one is not supposed to use one's lab coat  _outside_  the lab, but she didn't get the chance. The woman spoke first.

"Hello Ms. Isley." She said, her voice covered in sugar, the men got closer. "Or should I say… Ivy Pepper?"

Ivy didn't answer. She was too busy being filled with dread. Would everything be taken from her if they knew her real name? The woman wasn't finished, though.

"I heard you like to experiment on people." She said. And that was what it was to the story.

 

\- Act three: the inception –

There were many, many things Selina Kyle was hiding from Bruce Wayne. For a start, he still thought that her mother was alive somewhere. He still thought that he was the one who came up with the whole "I could kiss you" idea. He also thought that Selina was totally okay with their friends with benefits thing and she was, but there was only a seventh percent agreement with the "you can fuck anyone else in the meantime" part. She would never say  _that_  out loud, though.

Of course there was the kleptomania thing that she decided not to mention, after all, it didn't affect him in any aspect and then there were the packages.

During the course of those three years, Selina had been getting random gifts – sometimes personally, from people on the streets, sometimes at home or at work, all of them coming from different places, most of them with Metropolis in the addresser.

Even though there wasn't a name to link those things, she had a good guess of who was behind them, and she was just waiting for the perfect moment to go look for her.

When Selina got to her car that afternoon, after that fight with Ivy, there was a new small box on top of it. Now, to get mysterious packages in Gotham was a risky thing, and it was clearly one of those deliver-in-person gifts, but it had Central City's logo and postal stamp in it.

Taking the box with her, Selina got in the car and drove back to Barbara's neighborhood in record time, sending glances to the box by her side with certain desperation. What had she sent this time? What did she want? The gifts were more and more frequent lately, maybe it meant something, maybe it meant that the time was coming.

Holding back the urge to rip the paper open, Selina parked at home, went up to check on Babs, helped her a bit with dinner and announced that she was going to Bruce's. She was in  _no_  mood to face Ivy again, it wasn't even funny.

Once she had gotten to the Manor, she greeted Alfred and went straight to the second floor, where the TV room was. There was one thing that could increase her mood and that thing came in the format of five blu-rays with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover.

She gathered those piece of quality big screen and went to Bruce's room knowing that he'd be done with his training in a few. She took off her boots, socks and jacket, sat on the bed and went through the blu-rays for the thousandth time. It didn't matter that she knew the words by heart, it'd be always fun to read them again.

Not much later, the door opened and she looked up, dropping the little box by her left on the mattress. Bruce came in shirtless, sweaty, unwrapping his hands from the gauze that protected them for his boxing. His feet were bare and he was wearing just training pants. Selina smiled and hummed.

"Yummy." She commented, trying to sound all sexy and Bruce shook his head getting closer. His left hand was free and now he was freeing his right one. "You know, you don't even blush anymore, where's the fun of it?" she questioned with humor.

"What, you came here like Wowbagger just to insult me?"

"And you're a nerd too!" she accused. "How dare you!"

"I know, right?" Bruce exclaimed. "It's really unfair to have such ass and such brain!"

It still was so weird to hear it from him yet, so Selina just burst out laughing and he laughed too. There was why she liked him: Bruce made everything feel effortless.

"What do you have there?" he asked, although she could guess that he already knew. He didn't even need to get too close. "Terminator? Where did you find it?"

"At the TV room. We could totally marathon it." She said excitedly.

"I thought I hid them." He said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Please!" she laughed.

Okay, maybe Selina was a bit too excited about  _Terminator_  and Sarah Connor and maybe they watched those movies way too many times and  _maybe_  their first actual date was to see the fifth movie because she loved them so much, but hey! Could you blame her when the movies were fifty shades of awesome? Bruce himself was an enthusiastic before he even met Selina, he was the reason they had those blu-rays.

But Bruce also wasn't stupid. When Selina came to marathon something – movie sagas, TV shows or even sex – it was because something was bothering enough for her to want to tune out the world. He knew it, because it was something that he would do and they were the same.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

"Nothing." She said slowly.

A few years back, she would snap and leave at Bruce's first step towards helping her, but the tables had turned in a way so far that instead of leaning out now she was leaning in to him now. All she needed was a little push.

" _Sure_." The boy scoffed and she sighed.

"I'm worried about Barbara." She assumed. Truth was that although Barbara had been having troubles at this end of pregnancy and she had to run with her to the hospital more times than it was cool, she also was the least of her concerns, but also the one that would bring less attention to her individual troubles. "I'm afraid she's a time bomb and of how much time we have in the clock."

"Is this about the Ogre thing?" Bruce asked, now more soft. Selina nodded. "But you're monitoring her, right? In case her meds stop working, you're around to report."

"Yeah, but what if we are not around? What if she's with the baby and she snaps?"

Bruce stopped and just looked at her, really looked at her, his expression softening, a small smile in his lips. Selina caught him midway through that smile.

"What?"

"You're  _such_  a big sister already."

Her desire was to retort that no, she wasn't. But the truth was that she cared about Barbara and the little girl getting ready to pop and she couldn't wait to see that little thing out and breathing.

"Look at you, so anxious about it!" Bruce continued and Selina awoke from her thoughts.

"Don't get to excited, I'll probably suck at it."

"No, you won't." He assured and she wondered where that conviction came from, so she crossed her arms defiantly.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"You're great with kids." He said matter-of-factly and Selina uncrossed her arms, focused on reading between his likes. "And you already love her. Nothing could go wrong from there."

Selina shook her head, but she wasn't disagreeing with him, she was just seeing beyond him. Bruce had a heart made of gold, seeing the good in people and reassuring them of this good he saw. It was sad that people liked to see his playboy persona and had little interest in who he really was, you could tell that he'd have a nice, happy family someday, if someone was willing to dig deeper into his layers.

"I just know that you will be the father of six someday." She told him, getting up and walking towards him. He raised an eyebrow. "The dork father who reads  _Lord of the Rings_  for them to sleep."

"Lord of the Rings is too deep." He argued. "I think that the  _Hitchhiker's Guide_  is more appropriated."

She rolled her eyes and he laughed, pulling her closer. Her body fitted right into his and she had to tilt her head to look him in the eyes.

"The question that lingers is…" he continued. "How many of those six will  _you_  mother?"

It was a harmless question that made Selina's heart skip a beat and her vision go black for a second before she had a comeback. It was a good thing he was holding her, because it'd be a delicate moment to stand with no support.

"None." She said, making it sound as if it was the reasonable answer and Bruce smiled before kissing her – fast, before she could say that she meant it – and the kiss heated pretty quickly as they walked to the bathroom and the shower.

[...]

The following day, Bruce woke up with Selina bringing him breakfast – croissants, apple sauce, blueberry jam and milk – to him in bed. It also was the day of the annual Wayne Charity Ball that they would go together for the fourth time. After their first ball, Selina started going in Barbara's behalf to keep the gallery running. She had said that nothing appealed more to the pockets of the rich than some rescued child who also looked oh so pretty.

"God, no." She said that morning, however.

"You're not going?" he asked surprised, a piece of croissant midway to his mouth. "Why?"

"I'm not in the mood for fancy dresses." She shrugged. "And I want to  _sleep_." She extended the vowels to longer the word.

"Sleep now." He suggested and Selina made a face.

"I've to work." She complained pouting. "No one will show up because every costumer will be so busy with the Ball, but I still have to go there and stay until 3pm."

"But I thought that the Ball was good for business."

Selina sighed.

"Marla is going in my place." Was her final statement. "Besides, I so don't want to face people today. You can go and be Playboy Billionaire Bruce Wayne tonight. Fuck someone cute like she's not me."

Bruce shrugged.

"That's how I always do it, Cat." He said.

Word spread quickly that Bruce was riding solo that night as soon as he got to the hotel where the Ball was being held, that his date was his butler. In his defense, he did try to contact Ivy Pepper to go with him (she was almost as good as Selina at those events), but since he got no answer, Alfred was the next suitable option.

Ever since he and Selina started to go to those events, more kids their age began to go too, especially girls, so he had no trouble to find pairs to dance with while pretending to drink alcohol from his own bottle (it truly was just water). No one was as fun as Cat, though. She knew him like no one else and used to encourage him to do things that would improve his fake persona that was being carefully displayed in front of the society.

He was in the middle of a conversation with Lucius Fox when he saw a girl about his age near the food table. Beautiful, with dark skin and natural hair adorned with a blue flower, she was wearing a purplish dress that did good things for her curves.

"Who.." Bruce changed his line abruptly when he spotted her "is that?" he also made a good deal of pointing which, in fact, his mother did teach was rude. By his side, Lucius followed his gaze and shook his head.

"You don't want to go there." The scientist answered, but the boy insisted.

" _Who is she_?"

The girl seemed unsure of what she wanted to eat and just picked at things with her plate in her other hand. Alfred joined them. Lucius sighed, looking at Alfred for support.

"She's Tabitah Banderslaw." He finally said and Bruce's eyes lightened. "Sid's eldest."

"Banderslaw's daughter, is that so?" Bruce asked, ten thousand times more interested now. Alfred sniffed the danger of a bad decision being made.

"Oh no, no, Master B." he warned when the teen stepped towards her and he turned to the butler and Lucius with a mischievous smile.

"No… what?" but Bruce didn't wait for the answer.

Tabitah Banderslaw was fifteen, just as bored as Bruce, wasn't worried about why he didn't have Selina tagging along that time like other girls tried to know and was just as willing as he to jump right into one of the bathrooms to have sex. She was pretty and smart and quick to get in and out of situations, as he quickly realized. She didn't fuss around him, let him do his playboy act, enjoyed it and even asked him to join her for a smoke after.

Bruce wasn't a smoker, but he followed her to the back of the hotel to smoke in the street. For the look at the front of the hotel, one would think that the back couldn't be so ugly, but when Bruce came out with his fake alcohol and Tabitah Banderslaw, he felt the déjà vu of the streets he walked with Selina to meet Clive.

He drank, she smoked, all in silence for a few minutes watching people in rags pass by, the stinky smell boiled with the heat.

"Do you know what it's like?" Tabitah suddenly said and Bruce looked at her frowning.

"What?"

She shrugged, puffed her cigar. Her eyes were on an old man digging in the garbage.

"To live in the streets of Gotham."

That was unexpected, and he thought about it for a couple of seconds.

"I've seen up close."

"But did you  _live_  it?" she insisted. It was a strange subject to bring up after casual sex, he thought.

" _Did you_?" he chose to reply and a few emotions crossed Tabitah's eyes, none of them the comprehension she seemed to seek.

"No. I don't even like to think about it. My father says that I should avoid these thoughts, but sometimes it's inevitable, like I can't help but feel their pain." She looked right at Bruce then. Her eyes were deep and black, he hadn't noticed before. She continued. "This city is sick, Bruce. And as long as we can't relate to those who suffer, we won't be able to help. Of course those are thoughts of a rich girl. Any street con would laugh at me."

There was some real talk in there, he could grasp it. She seemed real and her theory was something to think about. Ivy once told him that he could try all the much he wanted to live in the streets and live like they did, but it would never count, because in his head he'd always know that anytime he felt like it, he could go back to his Manor and his endless money. Selina had told him to ignore Ivy (apparently, she was pissed at him for other reasons), but he knew that she agreed.

"Probably." Bruce finally said, hiding his bottle in a secret pocket of his suit. Tabitah finished her cigar and they went back inside.

Less than half an hour later, Bruce already was back to the Manor, but Selina wasn't there. He ate leftovers from lunch, let his dogs ruin his suit with dribble and fur and it was past 9 when he went up, stripped and got into a hot bath. Still no sign of Selina, not even a call. He didn't try to reach her. That wasn't their way.

Just a few minutes later, she arrived. With no much more than a relieved smile, she stripped down and joined him.

"How was it?" Selina asked and he made a face.

"Terrible, of course."

"No, tell me something new." She said with a bit of a laugh. "Who did you fuck?"

"How d-" but he stopped short when she move her hips ever so slightly, just checking his limpness as if it was proof. They both smiled. "Okay, brace yourself." He warned her before saying "Her name is Tabitah. Banderslaw."

Selina's jaw dropped and then she threw her head back laughing.

"No fucking way!"

"Yeah fucking way!" he replied, following her laugher. Most of the time, it was such a pain to pull up this other persona so different from who he really was, but sometimes somethings would happen, things that were the dictionary description of ' _karma is a bitch_ ' that he could do nothing but enjoy it. Selina seemed to like those things just as much.

"And how is she?" she asked. That's a question she always made and at first he felt weird about answering, but as time passed by he got used to it. Maybe it was a kink of hers.

"Black and beautiful," he answered "awesome hair, her breasts looked wonderful in that dress." Selina hummed, so he teased further, his fingers tracing the muscles of her stomach and up. "I had the chance to have both hands more than full on them."

She looked down at her own breasts with a little pout and he smiled, his hands hovering over them. She once had told him that her boobs weren't very impressive, but at the time he assured her that he didn't give many fucks about it. This time wasn't different, but instead of cupping them, he traced his way back down, his hands grasping the skin of her hips, and he leaned closer to her, their noses almost touching.

"It's hard to have an ass like yours, though."

Selina smiled, melting at the look in his eyes, the way his hands grabbed her ass and the evidence of his rising excitement.

"I forgot that you're not a boobs man." She whispered, mostly because she was suddenly out of breath. "You're an ass man." And kissed him.

"You're rather right." Bruce admitted in her lips. "But that's probably because you have an ass that makes even black girls run for their money."

She laughed again and joked.

" _My anaconda don't! My anaconda don't_ -"

" _want none unless you got buns, hun_!" he completed and didn't let her continue, kissing her again.

They kissed for a long time until the water was almost cold and their skin was too hot. They were too connected to want to move, though.

"What took you so long to come back?" Bruce asked after some time and a pained look crossed her eyes.

"Something happened." She murmured, avoiding his eyes, so he placed two fingers under her chin and made her look up at him. She swallowed before speaking. "Ivy disappeared." She told him and his eyes widened. "Yesterday, she was going to go on a date with Harleen, but never got there. At first, Babs and Jim thought that she was at Harleen's, but this morning she called asking if everything was alright and if she could talk to V. It was when everyone realized that something was wrong."

"I tried to reach to her today with no success." Bruce commented a little bit in shock.

"And I saw her yesterday after I closed the gallery!" Selina exclaimed a bit louder than planned. Before speaking again, she took a deep breath. "Something happened in the half hour between when I saw her and the text Harleen got saying that she was almost there. Ivy wouldn't just leave. Jim showed up at the gallery, asked for my help and I spent the rest of the day pulling my old contacts, which also means that I  _didn't_  sleep. I hope you don't have plans for tonight."

She said the last part as a joke, but it was clear that to talk about Ivy brought her concern to the surface. Any thought Bruce had about sharing what Tabitah had told him vanished and he set his mind on being a good friend to Selina right there.

They finally got out of the water, changed into some cozy clothes, put  _Terminator Genisys_  to play, had Alfred bringing them tea and slept halfway through the movie, fainting ideas about knowing the poor and having a fish craved in the base of a snow globe of the  _Daily Planet_  lingering in the back of their minds.


	2. A CHAPTER OF DISTRACTIONS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos, guys! You know what I would L O V E? A comment? Please? Lemme know what you think, even if you think this is terrible?  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

On the day of Selina's fifteenth birthday, Barbara made sure to take the girls for a girls' day out. They watched a funny action movie that Ivy supposedly hadn't been old enough to watch, bought shoes and ate ice cream.

The coolest thing about Barbara, Selina had thought that afternoon, was that she never tried to mom them. They would've had run in a heartbeat if she had, for Ivy's memories of her mother were too fresh and Selina still liked to pretend she was a free street kid.

But on the day of her fifteenth birthday Barbara made sure to take the girls for a girls' day out because there was something else waiting to happen at home.

It was past 5pm when they opened the door, but the hall and living room were different. Jim was there, as well as Bullock, Alfred, Leslie and Bruce. Selina wasn't sure if Babs and Lee were back in terms, but it seemed that they made the effort just for her. They had put balloons in different shades of purple all around the space, had cupcakes wit cats on it and a red velvet that begged to be eaten with fifteen candles on it.

She was teased about how Bruce had put it all together, asked to make a wish and blew out the candles with little trouble. She gave the first slice, surprising even herself, to Ivy. The girl didn't eat it because it had milk, but the symbolism of the gesture was nice.

(in fact, Bruce hadn't forget that Ivy was vegan and as soon as she passed along to him that first slice, he pointed a section of vegan cupcakes that she could eat)

After every single thing that Selina and Ivy had gone through up until then, that was the first time that Selina somehow said "we are in this together" and Ivy somehow agreed.

That was also the same day that Selina and Bruce sort of became public. After everyone ate cake and there was finger food in every corner of the house, he held her hand and led her to the balcony. The view was pretty from up there, it was her favorite part of the apartment. He rambled for a few minutes about how and why he chose the balloons and the cake, let go pieces of information that made her sure that he  _knew_  her, although he didn't  _get_  her all the time and for once she found it adorable instead of annoying or nosy.

She had spent the previous months too invested on Barbara and rebuilding that sort of home with Ivy that it took her some time to go back to Bruce's life after the Ball. It seemed that he was always busy with something too (and lately "something" meant "pretty rich girls") and so was she, so to make time wasn't easy.

But it seemed that he liked to have her in his life and he didn't want them to be so apart. He wanted them to stay friends and she should've said that he was delusional, but she couldn't.

"Yeah, sure." She had said and made him smile.

"Cool." He replied and she smiled too. Before she processed it, he was one step closer. Those months apart were enough for him to grow up a good foot and she was kind of sorry she missed it. "One more thing." He said and then he kissed her – fast, so she couldn't protest.

Everyone saw it through the glass door and walls.

A couple of weeks later, Jim asked Barbara to marry him and she said yes. They made a deal with the girls and it was decided that Ivy would go back to school and Selina would start to help at the gallery. No one complained.

Selina stirred and rolled in bed on the fifth morning in a roll that she woke up in the Manor. If there was one thing she was good at, it was to run from her problems, and Bruce was her favorite distraction. He also was the reason she woke up too early that Wednesday.

"Cat?" he hushed, shaking her carefully and she hummed in answer, not daring to open her eyes. He awoke her when he got up, but she still could have an extra hour. "Selina, Jim is here."

She made a face.

"How's that my business?" she asked, her voice hoarse with sleep.

"He's asking for you." Bruce told her and she took a deep breath, finally opening her eyes.

There was a time when Jim Gordon would drag her back home after he found out that she had spent the night on Bruce's bed, but she thought that he had gotten over it already. Alfred didn't share his concern, but Jim would always retort with "it's because it's not  _your_  daughter who can get pregnant" which was a bit of an exaggeration, but also very cute.

That thought sent a knot in her stomach and she forced herself to get up to think of something else. She threw in some band tee of Bruce's and a pair of boxers, didn't even care about her hair and went downstairs bare feet; she still had  _a lot_  of time to get ready to work, all she needed was in her car.

As soon as she entered in the kitchen, where the smell of bread and coffee came from and were Jim was having a tense chat with Bruce and Alfred, she went straight to the mugs.

"Coffee…" she chanted, extending her mug to Alfred to fill it. Jim tried to talk to her, but she shushed him and didn't let him direct to her until half of the liquid was in her system. "So? What is it?" she asked way more alert.

"You have a home, you know?" Jim told her and she knew he was angry, but didn't he understand how hard it was to go back to the room you shared with your disappeared sister? She didn't think so.

"Yeah, it comes in the format of a red 88 T-Bird." She calmly replied and sipped her coffee without breaking eye contact. Jim's work made him so angry all the time that she feared that he might have a stroke any moment, but it was also very hard not to provoke him, he had the best reactions.

That time, he locked his jaw and said through his teeth.

"Selina."

"Look, if you're worried about Babs, I go see her every day! Today I'll go after work, but I'm going, she does not miss me."

Stressed, Jim Gordon rubbed his face, trying to shoo his tension. When he spoke again, he was much calmer.

"Yeah, but she misses Ivy." He said and Selina put her mug down the counter, all her bravado gone. Not many people were able to make her drop her act and fifty percent of them were in that room.

"Do you have any news?" Selina asked, her voice somber, and Jim shook his head. Five days were a lot of days to be missing. She could bet the police had their eyes turned to the docs for at least forty-eight hours already. She knew why Jim was there, he was desperately hoping that she had had some news, any news, but she was as clueless as him. "No one reached to me yet, neither."

It was better to deliver it like this, once and for all and Jim lowered his head. Ivy's disappearance made it to the journals and news, her face was all around the city, but it'd die soon; they knew no pretty girl survives for long in this city, no matter how smart they are.

Her thoughts diverged to Fish Mooney at that moment. While under her wing, Fish shared some pretty tense stories about how she survived Gotham day after day and learned her way to the top step by step over and over. Selina couldn't afford to think that Ivy would just die on them like that, it was not at all how the girl worked. V was strong, resilient, forward thinker and she could handle anything. She was going to survive this – whatever it was that was going on with her. And she wouldn't allow anyone to think otherwise.

"Selly, just…" Jim started again, breaking her line of thought. "Go home, okay? What are you even doing here anyway?"

At that, the girl smiled, her attitude rebuilt in two seconds.

"Things that involve lots of acrobatics and  _lots_  of tongue." She replied, making sure not to blush and Bruce snorted in his coffee. She had almost forgotten he and Alfred were there.

Jim turned to Bruce very serious.

"Do you think this is funny?" the cop asked using his cop voice. Too bad it didn't work on them.

"Absolutely not." Bruce answered.

"This is very serious, are you two being careful?"

"Oh, my God, Jim, shut up!" Selina snapped, now blushing. She couldn't decide if she was more annoyed or glad to see him dad her. "Don't you have to work or something?"

He had and he went. So did she.

[...]

The only problem was that they weren't being careful.

Well, they used to be all about condoms, but then Selina got on the pill and the condoms were saved for his other affairs. And Selina was good with her pills, she was so proud to be able to take care of everyone else  **AND**  herself.

But that oddly hot month of April was filled with surprises. Before Ivy even became a "situation", Selina had to run with Barbara to the hospital at least three times; she managed to make four big sells and one important buy, hired an inter for the summer, modified all the security system with the help of Lucius Fox and her friend Macky who also was a former street kid and helped finish the decoration of the baby's room.

When she went home on Sunday to have dinner with Babs and Jim, Barbara asked Selina to get a new stash of pill for her on Monday, for she was running out. The following day, She woke up early and did as she was asked. When she got home, Barbara said

"Thank you, Selly. Did you get your pills too? Month is ending."

Barbara knew her cycle because she was the one who took Selina to the doctor in the first place, but the girl had to have a few seconds of loading before she understood what the other meant.

"Hm…" she started unsure. "Yea, I did." And then she mumbled a " _shit_." When Babs wasn't looking.

Next thing she did was dig the depths of her purse to find the little box. And now it set in the top drawer of her office table at the gallery, just beside the globe she got the previous week. There was an ache growing behind Selina's eyes, so she excused herself to be in the office and was developing a new hobby of staring at nothing, have her eyes dragged to the open drawer, wonder at its contents and stare at nothing again, all in full cycle.

Out of those twenty-one pills that she had to take daily, fourteen still were in the box. Fourteen. And the monthly clock was ticking down to three. Selina had  _no idea_  how she could totally forget about taking them that way. Sure that a lot of things happened, but a lot of things had happened for a long time, that shouldn't be an excuse.

She sighed for the tenth time, closing her eyes to try to focus. She couldn't think about it  _now_. She shouldn't even need to go back to the pills at this point, she'd have her period any moment now anyway. Also, she had to work and she had Ivy.

Determined to get shit done, Selina threw the little box in the trash can and took the globe to put it with the other stuff, but she found herself analyzing it again. It was Metropolis' Daily Planet miniature, a city by the west that could get colder than Gotham in winter months. Superman's city.

To be honest, she found Superman kind of silly and messy. She was a bigger fan of his cousin Supergirl, who did her thing not so far from there. But the globe was of the Daily Planet, from Metropolis, the same place where most of her gifts came from.

Distracted, Selina shook the globe, making it snow over the dramatic symbol of the journal and she turned it upside down to closely look at its base again. She had learned to look for details a long time ago, so that particular one wasn't even hard to spot. A fish carved under the base, it wasn't even discreet, just the outline of its format like the neon of her former club.

"Is that really you, Fish?" Selina whispered to the miniature, wondering if it could all be a long joke. Maria Mercedes Fish Mooney was supposed to be dead for three winters already, but no cop of fisherman found her body. Maybe she was dissolving in the ocean, but maybe, just maybe, she was alive.

She once said that Selina was her favorite girl. She said it more than once and the teen believed that she gave her status to know firsthand that the boss was around, alive and well, not to get led through a bunch of vague clues that led nowhere, so you could imagine how she felt about those gifts.

Selina closed the top drawer and opened the last one, the one that needed a key. Inside it there was a safe, a combination safe where she kept all the gifts that could somehow be connected to Fish Mooney. The other ones were in the same safe she had at Penguin's where she kept money and jewels. That globe belonged to the office safe.

When she bended down to open combination, she saw the little box where the globe came in and it gave her an idea. Although it didn't have a sender address, it had the date of the postage from Central City, so she could guess when that gift was bought.

Central City also was west of Gotham, on the way to Metropolis, not very far from Starling. The package was dated of two weeks before and it was the Daily Planet building, so Selina opened an internet browser on her computer and checked the Daily Planet's webpage from the day the package was sent to a few days back. If there was something she knew about those gifts, it was that they were fresh breadcrumbles. Selina had a long list of interesting curiosities linked to each gift she got.

The quick dig she did didn't bring many interesting curiosities, however. There were news about the Superman (always) and news about Lex Luthor, news about criminals and crimes fought; the only article that caught her attention a little deeper was one about women empowerment. It talked about the vigilante women on the streets – alien or not – and how it stimulated the bosses all around not to be afraid of their status in command. It mentioned Supergirl, both White and Black Canary, a young lady who was being called Wonder Woman down south that couldn't be much older than Selina herself and there was also someone on the west coast being called The Question that the media believed was a woman too, for many reasons. Those people were being compared to many powerful women, like Kate Kane, a friend of Barbara's and Luthor's counselor who no one knew who was, but rumor has it that she'd make Condoleezza Rice run for her money.

Before Selina could read any further, she was interrupted by a knock on the door that was open as soon as she told the person to come in. She was expecting to see Marla or Rachel, the intern, but who was in front of her when she looked up was a very blonde, very pale and very distressed Harleen Quinzel.

Ivy could be many things – crazy ass bitch, nerd as fuck econazi, poison silver-tongue (God, how Selina missed her!), but no one could deny that she knew how to choose her lovers. Harleen was a beauty and it was true that Selina didn't try much to get to know her, but from what she saw, they were good to each other, they made each other happy. She even thought that V would find them an apartment as soon as she turned sixteen (was it just a month earlier?), but it didn't happen so fast.

It was clear by the red in the blonde's eyes and the heaviness that she carried that Harleen was more than worried about Ivy. Selina could swear that she was skinnier, which couldn't be good. She needed to keep her mind straight because it was the end of the semester and Ivy wouldn't want her to screw up or lose her internship.

At that, Selina shook her head. She couldn't let herself think as if V was gone.  _She wasn't gone_. She was coming back.

"Hi Harleen, sit down." She offered and the other girl did as she was told.

"Metropolis?" she said, her voice small, pointing at the globe that still was on Selina's desk. "Cool city."

"Never been there." She admitted and Harleen raised an eyebrow. "A friend brought it to me." She explained and the other nodded. Unable to make small talk, Selina cut right to watch mattered. "Did you get any news?"

Harleen shook her head no and took a few deep breaths. She was so balanced, Selina wondered why.

"It's my fault."  _There it was_. "If I hadn't told Pam to meet me, she wouldn't be gone."

Selina shook her head disagreeing.

"That's not how it works, Harleen." She tried, but the girl was convinced.

"I must have done something really, really stupid for her to leave me like that." She continued as if Selina hadn't said anything. "Why did I think it was okay to ask her to do things?"

She was so frustrated, Selina could almost touch it. But it also bothered Selina, because it wasn't about Harleen what was going on with V, she wasn't the only one to blame. All the time, the younger girl wondered if she hadn't confronted Ivy about the drugs and just offered a ride… perhaps Ivy would be safe and sound by now.

They had history, she and Ivy, and it was very annoying to have this other person who hardly knew her feeling entitled. It was a thing to miss her, and a completely different thing to have this other girl thinking she was the only person who was suffering.

"She didn't leave  _you_." Selina cut Harleen, knowing that her tone was a bit too sharp. She tried to soften it before she spoke again. "She left me and our mom right when our little sister is about to be born. Do you have any idea how V and I were waiting to see her? Ever since Babs told us she was pregnant! We took care of each other when we only had each other and we took care of Babs when she thought no one else cared about her. She has family. You think she'd simply leave just because her girlfriend is, I don't know, kinky or something? She left  _us_ , Harleen. And that doesn't sound right."

Right, that wasn't soft. But Harleen had to snap out of her misery if she wanted to find out what had happened to Ivy. Because Selina was certain that something had happened, no one could take that certainty from her. The Ivy she knew wouldn't just leave everyone she loved behind. She just wouldn't. Something was going on.

Instead of saying that to Harleen, Selina said something else, something that scared her how profoundly she meant it.

"I still don't know what is it that's keeping V from contacting us, but I know that I'll do everything in my power to find her and bring her home."

It worked. Harleen seemed calmer after those words and a little bit of color went back to her skin.

"You promise?" the blonde asked and the teen nodded.

"I promise."

It seemed to satisfy Harleen's heavy heart and she stood up to leave, apologizing for interrupting Selina's work. Before she left, though, the younger girl called her again.

"If you remember anything else…" she said, looking into Harleen eyes. She had so much energy in them, like she could skin you, it was amazing. "or if you see something – anything – weird… please, report to Jim or to me, will you?"

By the door, Harleen nodded.

"I will."

[...]

Every day waking up knowing that Ivy wasn't around tasted weird in Selina's mouth. Every day scratched in the calendar was another day fewer of chances of finding Ivy well and breathing and it scared Selina to the bone from the moment she opened her eyes, Bruce's arms around her, to going to work and having to focus to sell something pretty, smile to clients, to the moment she went home to have dinner with Babs and Jim, as if life was supposed to go back to normal already when her guts told her it was too soon.

On the eightieth day, a Saturday, she had to work and off she went in her red T-Bird that she loved so much, eyes as heavy as her heart, because the sleep slipped away from her and she was downtown when her phone buzzed with a call from Jim. Selina quickly parked in the first spot she found and called back, eager to know if he had any news, but his tone was different when he picked up.

"Selly, I need you in the hospital right now. Barbara is having contractions." He said, not even bothering to say hello first and Selina's heart beat faster.

"Do you think this is it?" she asked, something very similar to excitement appearing in her voice for the first time in a week.

"I don't know." Jim answered and she could swear he was so nervous it was loud. "Maybe."

"I'm on my way!" she told him, already turning the key to start the car again, but then she stopped short. "Wait, I'm supposed to open the gallery today. I can't make it a thing to leave them hanging every Saturday."

There was a silence there, after she said it, where both of them wondered at what made her skip work the previous week and how this distance in time counted down an invisible clock to everything that went wrong that they couldn't fix and they both thought about Ivy and the little baby and how it felt a tad wrong for her to be born without her middle sister here to see her. Jim spoke first.

"You also can't leave Barbara right now, so go to the gallery, open it, do your instructions thing and tell everyone you're staying with Babs at the hospital for as much as you can. It's a family emergency."

Selina smiled, nodded knowing that he couldn't see it and hung up. The coolest thing about Jim was that he broke all the rules, from the moment he accepted her word when she said she had seen the Waynes' killer to the current day. He went against every demand she and Ivy had made and he totally dad them, even though Ivy's memories of her father were still fresh and Selina still liked to pretend she was a free street kid. He paved the path that Barbara started to make and made the girls accept easier to have a mom again. On his own way, he led them under Barbara's wing willingly and that care, that love that both adults shared with them was something they didn't know before, didn't believe before, something that strengthened them and something they didn't want to lose.

So Selina went to the gallery feeling a new joy in her chest, told everyone that maybe Babs would deliver that day, told them to do their job and that she would be away for a few hours, just in case a new baby girl decided to arrive.

She spent most of the morning texting Jim to know what was going on, waiting in the lob and playing Sudoku on her phone, trying to distract her mind. If she had thought straight, she would've brought a few more articles from the Daily Planet to read. Babies take a long time to come to the world and she could use the reading, internet worked like shit in that area of Gotham.

She was for so long with her head down, that she didn't even notice when someone stopped by her side, just when an open box of donuts appeared in front of her nose that she looked up and saw Bruce smiling at her.

"I'm guessing you didn't have lunch yet." He said, sitting by her side and she put her phone down, her mouth slightly open.

"What time is it?"

"Short past noon." He answered as she took the box in her hands, choosing a donut covered with chocolate.

"How did find me?" Selina asked, her mouth full and Bruce handed her a bottle of water that she gladly accepted.

"Jim told Alfred, who told me, I called the gallery and they told me you were here. Do you have any idea what's going on in there?"

Selina sighed and shook her head and Bruce chose a donut for himself waiting for her to explain.

"Stress, apparently." She informed. "They are making a bunch of exams and calculating if they should take the baby out or wait for the week that is left in the oven."

Bruce nodded, all comprehensive.

"What do you prefer?" he asked and she sighed. There was only one valuable answer to that.

"I want my family together." She replied.

They ate in silence for a few, letting the tension of the void Ivy caused ease a little bit. After a few minutes, Bruce leaned closer to her, bumping his shoulder in hers and Selina smiled a little, leaning in to him too. They looked at each other and it was a moment that begged for a kiss, but instead, Bruce frowned and spoke again.

"I've been meaning to tell you something that's been in my mind for a few days, but all this happened and I couldn't find the right time-"

"What is it, B?" she cut him, knowing that he could ramble for way too long if she let him and he took a deep breath.

"I think… I'll leave town for some time." He told her and she raised an eyebrow. "I'll probably leave the country, really. And I don't know for how long."

Selina looked at him and waited, but after a while it was clear that he wanted her to say something.

"Why?" she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.

"I think I'm not having enough, I guess." He said and she wondered what else he could want, she wondered if she wasn't enough already, but was quick to push that thought away. It clearly wasn't about them and she wasn't one to make it be. "I need to know how the world works and Gotham is not the right role model."

It was a reasonable answer, she had to admit. Although Selina loved that city, she also felt like it limited her in some way. She herself was waiting for her chance to leave, knowing that she would be back someday.

"I'm not going today, nor tomorrow. I'm just telling you that someday I'll go."

Selina nodded.

"And you are going alone." She said, not a question.

"Feels right that way, yes." Bruce pondered. "What are you thinking?"

Oh, Selina was thinking in many things at the same time. She was thinking that there probably was another reason behind his decision, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to dig deeper. She was thinking that she wouldn't have any reason to stay at the Manor once he was gone and that she had her own room that was half filled with Ivy's things. She was thinking that her little sister would arrive anytime soon and that Jim was right, Babs needed her at home. She was thinking that she had a home and Bruce wasn't it.

She was thinking that maybe it was good that Bruce was leaving. Maybe, if he left soon enough, she would never have to tell him about how her cycle was out of time for a couple of days and she hadn't bleed yet. Like never.

Finally, Jim came down the hall and she ran to him as soon as she saw him. She was almost an adult, but he still could hug her like she was a child and his voice calmed her in a way that would make her unease a few years back.

"What's the pitch?" she asked when she hugged him and he ran his hand through her hair, something that she enjoyed, but rarely let him do.

"Not today, kiddo." Jim answered and she let go of him pouting, a gesture that made him laugh a bit. They walked together back to the chairs, where Bruce was waiting with a half empty box of donuts and two half empty bottles of water. "She's not dilated enough and there's no risk of the water breaking so soon, so she's going home after she's medicated."

"Medicated for what?" Selina asked.

"Pressure." Jim told her. They were always on the verge of the dread of facing another break down, like it was lurking behind their backs ready to attack in the first opportunity, but a lot of opportunities came and went already and Barbara was hanging on. "We'll leave in an hour at most." He continued and looked at Selina, his older daughter. That little stray cat made room in his life the moment she crossed his path and he really hoped she would never leave, same way he hoped Ivy hadn't just left them. Not after everything. "Are you coming with us?"

Selina looked at Bruce, who hadn't said a word, probably still waiting for her answer and then she looked at Jim with a small smile, the smile she reserved for moments of companionship and sincerity. Not many people were able to make her give them that smile and seventy-five percent of them were in that hospital.

"Yeah." She said. "I was going to tell Bruce this right about now. I'm going home."


	3. A CHAPTER ROLLING HIGH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for reading! Hope you like this one, I really enjoyed this beginning. I've exciting things planned for this hot mess of fic.
> 
> If you could leave a review I'd be forever grateful, even if it's to say that it sucks.
> 
> Thanks again and see ya around!

Time does tricky things to people when they roll high in unamusing places. It stretches and tangles, reaches its hands and let go in the last moment, grasps for dear life and dies in the sand just to rise again and do it all over in full cycle.

Ivy Pepper had hold on to time her whole life: the seconds that ticked with her hands in her ears waiting for her father's rage to dissipate in drunken sleep, the minutes that count down for her mother's bruises to fade out, the hours that took for the Child Protective Service to approach her, tell her that she was now in the system because both her parents were gone, not even the tasteless tea of the hospital's cafeteria warm enough to burn her body back to function for a while, just the raging hate boiling in her veins. She did count the time in good moments too, but they didn't seem to matter enough when you're kidnapped by your own instructor. At that moment – that long, eternal, ephemeral moment – Ivy could guess how the hollow was created in Barbara's heart and it was both parts sad and clarifying.

Ever since she was knocked down, drugged, dragged, Ivy couldn't figure out the measures of time. It felt as if too long had passed, but probably not so long. The only thing she knew for sure was that they were unease. She spent five awakenings in the same place – dump and bright, like some underground mastervillain set -, but on her sixth awaking, they were moving. They've been moving for quite some time now and she knew it not in a "I'm in a vehicle" kind of way, but in a "we didn't stay long here" kind of way.

To count how many times she woke up was the only way Ivy found to count at all, to have some sort of control over what was going on between places and time and drug vials and restless sleep. Those rare moments with her eyes open were terrifying and desperately wanted, for those were the only ways to let her know what was going on and, God forbid, beg for them to stop.

Maybe her begging was the reason they were putting her under over and over again, maybe all they wanted was for her to be quiet and consent, but if there was one thing Selina ever taught Ivy was that one could not force consent into happening. Besides, Ivy deserved to know. She deserved to know what they were doing to her and why, but lucidity was a slippery thing and her hands were wet.

[...]

There was a stillness in the air when Ivy woke up, a dripping noise that put her lazily awake, a sense of lull that was much like a cold touch that made her shiver with anticipation. For once, she seemed to be in her own mind again, slowly backing to herself after seventeen awakenings. Seventeen, she counted again, just to make sure.

She tried to move, but there was a pointed pain in her right arm and although her eyelids were still heavy, she managed to look around, turn her head, focus on the letter of the vial that fed her IV bag, making out an N and an O and an M.

This place was different and Ivy noticed. Her nose could pick up the smell of plants, of freshly watered green that made her heart jump with enthusiasm, almost glee, feelings she thought she had lost again.

They weren't underground, that she could somehow tell, but they also weren't somewhere legal, it was obvious. Perhaps a hidden area of Arkham where no one goes anymore. In her chest, a butterfly fluttered – if they were in Arkham, they still were in Gotham, and that made all easier for Harleen or Selly or Jim to find her and soon Ivy would be home, back to Babs and her new sister. Damn, what a disaster if she weren't there when her baby sis come to the world. Many unfair things had happened to Ivy Pepper in her sixteen years, but that particular one would be just plain evil.

Obviously, they weren't in Gotham, the sane part of her mind called. It would be too risky, she knew that and if they hadn't killed her yet, they probably didn't want her dead. Seventeen awakenings and the only thing Ivy wanted from them was reasons. Was it too much to ask?

The people who came to feed her arrived at that moment. She suspected that they were feeding her via tube if she wasn't awake at meal times, because not every time she had her eyes open someone tried to force a spoon in her mouth – or maybe she was too high to remember, but Ivy didn't like to think that it could be the case.

They never talked, those people with the bowls and spoons, so Ivy didn't bother to ask things after she realized it'd be useless. Different from the people with the needles, she didn't recognize them and different from the people with the food, she couldn't form coherent thoughts when the needles approached. They were lab lords, Ivy knew, and she was a lab rat.

That thought could almost make her laugh. People tried to reduce her to less than what she actually was her whole life, no one ever gave her the space to grow until Barbara put her under her care and Ivy – Pamela – made a name for herself. Now she was back to that, her personal cage of human wasted potential. Her visual change of humor caught someone's attention and she heard a little chuckle.

"You are quite the specimen, aren't you, Pammy?" he said. She had never noticed how his voice pierced her brain like a frozen dagger. All she had ever carried about was the knowledge that he could pass, all those beautiful plants in his herbarium. Now, the sound of his voice shut her down.

Among her seventeen awakenings, he was there only three times. His appearances were foggy and dreadful, his words about a new world filled with a new brand of humans, the mad thinking of a revolutionary beast turned every single one of her cells into scared puppies, made her a pack of living fear.

If there was one thing she hated more than all the others, it was fear, and to be filled with it made her hate herself with deafening strength, so thick she couldn't even process his words.

"You're not going to get away with it." She managed to speak, her voice hoarse with the lack of use and it amused him.

"Don't worry, little Pepper." Dr. Woodrue said after that, reaching for the vial by her side and sticking the needle in it to suck a great amount of the greenish liquid that would go to her body. "Soon enough everyone will forget about you and when they last expect… you will be my best creation."

Ivy scoffed.

"What do you think you are? Fucking Frankenstein or something?"

He started to laugh again, but this time he was close enough, so she really spat on him. It infuriated Dr. Woodrue so quickly it was as if Ivy had switched a button. She still had to list all the things that made him a sick bastard in an understandable order, but his hand pressing her head down while the other stuck the needle in her neck with those mad eyes so close to hers got to be on the top.

God, how that burned her alive, and she wasn't even thinking about the pain stretching up from her neck to all of her body. No, the feeling of her senses being driven to the limit wasn't even the worst time. What bothered her the most was that somehow her brain would start to believe that she would really be forgotten. That couldn't happen.

[...]

The problem with boyfriends was that sometimes, even if you were the boss bitch, they managed to win. That was Selina's argument ready to be used in case, Jim confronted her. Now, of course Bruce wasn't her  _boyfriend_ , he was just a friend who happened to be a boy, but her family liked to use that word when they were talking about him. It was kind of funny really, because he was "The Bruce Wayne" anywhere else, but in her house, he was "Selina's Boyfriend". Only Ivy refused to call him that, but again, she hardly liked him.

Besides, he wasn't. Her boyfriend, she meant, she always had to correct the term, even though that was a battle lost a long time ago with Babs and Jim. It'd be funny, though, if Jim called her on that for sleeping in Bruce's house that particular time, because it happened when he really was being just a friend.

Bruce had met her the previous evening at the Starbucks midtown and rescued her from a pile of bills that she was trying to figure out. The gallery was making money, but she needed to make a big purchase to keep the place full and she couldn't figure out how to deal with the money.

The blame of her blank brain could be put on the situations, but the situations weren't public for Bruce, so Selina only said she was freaking out, let him gather her things along with her pieces and followed him to the Manor where they sat on the study, checked deals and numbers together, made an urgency plan together, a few phone calls and later watched Sarah Connor together. It was only when her alarm went off the following morning that she realized that she was supposed to spend the night in her own bed.

"You look terrible." Marla said after lunch. She was the only person with balls to talk to Selina like that, sometimes not even Barbara would use certain words. Selina could be the youngest, still a teen, but she proved her worth. "Must be all the work you did yesterday." Marla continued, closing the pages she had in hand.

Beside the bills, Selina and the other girls had also changed a few things, moved statues from place to place to give the gallery some fluidity for the new week. Selina sighed.

"Must be a lot of things." She admitted. She was feeling sick and horrible ever since she woke up and it was annoying.

Everyone knew about Ivy and could only wonder how the family was hanging on. Secret was: they barely were. Ivy gave them a balance that was now compromised and they were slowly falling apart. At least Selina was.

"You know, it's not your place to worry and take care of everyone." Marla told her with a little smile. She slid the papers with the financial data they needed to their new big purchase in Selina's direction and the teen smiled. "Deal is good, let's do it."

They had just crossed the door, hardly ten minutes later, when Rachel announced.

"Selly, you've got a visitor."

Selina frowned.

"What is it? Jail?" she asked wondering if it could be Harleen again. Only a week had passed since they talked and it was too soon for things to change, but…

"Holy shit, you look!" Bruce practically shouted, appearing in front of her and Marla and Rachel stepped away smiling. Selina smiled too, stopping in her in her tracks, cheeks blushing. He had two coffees in his hands and was being Playboy Billionaire, catching everyone's attention. "You look fucking amazing, Selina, I could spot the smoke from miles away!"

Selina laughed and he came closer. She was wearing a black dress that marked every single curve of her body, but was also very classic, knee high, sleeveless with a turtleneck with her high heels to give her a few more inches and a professional look. She liked to buy work clothes that screamed "Kardashian chic" and despite the little show Bruce was making, he was the one who zipped her up earlier.

"You look prettier than I remember from this morning." He continued and she shushed him.

"Goddammit, do you need to always use so many words?" she interrupted him and he smiled before pecking her lips.

"This is for you." Bruce handed her one of the coffees and she gladly accepted it. He was talking lower now, normal. "To make you feel better."

"Thank you, I needed it." She admitted, sipping her coffee with glee.

"Everything alright with the bills now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, thanks for the help." Selina smiled, really thankful and Bruce shook it off.

"It's nothing. Look," he changed the subject so fast, she almost lost the transition. "Alfred told me that you weren't feeling well this morning." He paused, seeming concerned. "What's up?"

Oh, yeah, there was that too.

Selina took a deep breath, her head aching, and she gave him the most honest answer she could give.

" _Everything_. I'm so worried all the time, it's making me sick."

Bruce shook his head. He wasn't at all surprised with her response, for Selina had a palpable sense of responsibility over her humans.

"Selly…" he said hugging her. Her hair was braided, longer than it was when they first met. "I know it's kind of dumb what I'm going to say, but you have to  _relax_." Selina scoffed, just to make a point. "I'm not telling you to forget – about V and Babs and the baby and work -, I'm just saying that you need to understand right now that you can't control everything. Some things are just out of your reach."

It was a reasonable advice, she had to admit. Well-chosen words and all. There was why she liked him: he wouldn't let her fend for herself, he would always find a way to cheer her up. So she looked up at him and smiled knowing that half of the women in that gallery disapproved her interaction with that cocky playboy billionaire and the other half would be texting their daughters, sisters, cousins in the first opportunity to pass along that Bruce Wayne was taken again. It was funny because he had always been taken, they were just open.

"You know what?" he told her "It's almost 3pm. How about we go shopping and then we go we go to this new Argentinian restaurant that opened at the Botanic Garden, ask for some cheap empanadas just to piss them off and basically take a time for you?"

Her smile grew larger.

"Uh, are you going to buy me things?" Selina asked and Bruce shrugged. It was a yes.

"What do you'd like?"

She pretended to think for a couple of a couple of seconds.

"You know, I've a thing for diamonds."

And that was how they ended up being the first clients of the evening in that new Argentinian restaurant called El Gaucho that served the best churrasco they had ever eaten and how they got to dance some tango in the dancefloor and have their own serenade, where a handsome tenor sang Bésame Mucho and gave a red rose to Selina.

Bruce used his magic to make Selina relax, even if it was just for a little bit or a little while, like he could always do. He had a way of working her that if she wasn't careful could overtake everything else. She didn't know how it happened, but at that point she could do anything for him.

Maybe, Selina thought, Ivy was right.

(but somewhere, not so deep as one would think, she knew that he'd do anything for her too)

They were paying the bill when she finally noticed that her phone was buzzing, Jim desperately calling again. If she picked up, she could bet that he'd be firing up because of her little escapade again, or maybe some tabloid already had posted that Bruce was around with his on-again-off-again girlfriend that afternoon.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, when he saw her looking at her scandalous phone. She sighed.

"Just wondering if Jim is gonna lecture me." She replied and hit the green button. "'Sup, handsome?"

"Where the hell are you?" the cop ranted, his tone urgent in that way that reminded her that the world didn't revolve around her. She felt more alert, was that it? "Come to the hospital ow, the baby will come out any moment and Barbara wants you here."

That  _was_  it!

She jumped up at the same moment, startling Bruce, who was charming the waitress in Spanish.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed excited, gathering her things in a hurry.

"What is it, Ivy or the baby?" Bruce asked her and only then she realized how many important things were going on in her life. One thing is to know that your life is busy and another, completely different, is to let that information settle in.

"The baby! Did the water break?" the last part was for Jim, who kind of chuckled and kind of sighed nervous.

"Yes, it did."

"Holy shit. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Uh-uh." Bruce interrupted Selina in the middle of her movement and took the keys from her hand. "You're not driving like that, you get blind when you're overexcited. I'll do it."

They looked at each other for a few, Selina analyzing the offer. It wasn't that Bruce had never driven her T-Bird, he had. It was just that he could be awfully careful sometimes and she had no time for that, but she also wanted to get to the hospital in one piece.

"Fine, but don't drive like a grandpa."

In fact, it was probably the first time that Bruce didn't drive like a grandpa with her, perhaps the expectation on the birth of that baby was so high that he was dying to see her too, a little bit of normality in their messy lives, so he drove fast, yet carefully and they got to GCGH in record time.

Jim wasn't even expecting her, he was with Babs the whole time and Selina had to find her way to the room.

She arrived in a seemingly lull moment where Barbara looked exhausted already and Jim was buzzing with nervousness ad she was welcomed with warm smiles, open arms and rushed anxiety. Her duty, she was informed, was too register everything she could – every single moment – and Bruce's, who wisely decided to wait outside, was to contact everyone they knew to tell about the birth of the baby.

After Selina was there, camera in hand, it still took two hours for her to be born. The room was hectic, busy with nurses and doctors and GU students, the birth was a mess and there was a powerful baby cry in the ambient. Little bloody thing had a pair of strong lungs and for a whole minute no one could hear their thoughts. Selina was floating, Barbara was exhausted and Jim was crying, so moved to have his daughter in his arms that the teen had to stop from mocking him with something like "get it together, man". Damn, she herself was feeling emotional about that tiny loud thing already and the baby only had a few minutes of life so far.

It was no surprise to them when they realized that somehow, in the middle of that chaos, the doctors understood that the name of the baby would be… Barbara. It was only when Jim went to actually register her that he realized what happened, unable to pinpoint exactly when that little slip occurred. For some reason that he wasn't very good to explain later, he decided to keep the name and when Babs got word of it, she wasn't very happy.

"Come on, Babs, it's a beautiful name!" Jim argued and Selina laughed, focused on keep an eye on Bruce in the corner of the room, just to make sure that he wouldn't drop the baby, and Barbara threw her hands up.

"Yeah, it's  _my_  name!"

"Why can't there be such a thing like a Junior Barbara when it's okay to have a Junior James?" the cop continued and Bruce nodded.

"It's a good point." He whispered to Selina, who had to agree. Jim hadn't finished.

"Besides, she looks like you. I don't think it's a bad thing a daughter with the same name as the mother."

Barbara was unconvinced.

"That's bullshit, James. Selina, come on, back me up!"

Selina's eyes widened as she looked at the couple. She wasn't expecting to have a call on it, they had never even addressed her to lay an opinion when they were discussing names.

"Don't look at me, I'm finding it super funny. You two would be just like the Gilmore Girls – except that Babs makes terrible references."

Babs' jaw dropped.

"Gilmore Girls? How do you even know about this show, aren't you, like, twelve or something?"

Selina shook her head, because once upon a time Barbara was so good at using words like daggers, but motherhood had softened her.

"There's this thing invented a while ago, it's called the internet." The teen answered. "I believe you heard of it."

She caught Barbara looking to Bruce over Selina's shoulder, heard him mumble the word "Netflix" very apologetically and noticed the exact moment her mom realized she'd lost.

"Fine." The blonde said. "But she will know who to blame for this terrible choice, my poor thing."

Jim and Selina exchanged a look and smiled. Lil Barbie it was then.

[...]

Three things filled Selina's following days: work, disconnected clues and Barbie.

The first big purchase of May, mediated by Bruce, was a huge hit from the first moment that it colored the gallery. Maybe people were excited because of Barbie, maybe the art was all that jazz. The main point was that they were making money and what else you'd want more?

Time. You'd want more time to figure out all the little things that were getting to her desk and mailbox. The frequency had increased significantly after the baby was born, small urgent things that Selina could hardly connect to each other and current events, they were like souvenirs you get when you go to the beach, she was beginning to think looking at all those random things in her desk, they don't work as a memory to the person who received them, it only worked that way with the buyer. The more recent one was an email that Selina didn't dare to open yet. She had a feeling she wasn't ready for it.

Also, there was the overwhelming love she was feeling for a thirteen days old baby that she couldn't explain. Barbie wasn't Selina's. Selina wasn't Barbie's in any way but the girl who kind of lived there with them when she came to this world and the teen had no idea how she could feel such a sense of responsibility over that teeny human being (but if she dug deeper, she'd find out that Bruce, Babs, Ivy and Jim – even, maybe, Alfred – were worth saving, worth keeping, and she'd also didn't know how they ended up there).

It was a Tuesday when Selina was home being a silly and careful big sister and the doorbell rang. With Barbie in her arms, she went to open the door, the smell of roasted chicken coming from the kitchen and it was rather awesome how well Babs could pull the housewife thing sometimes. To her surprise, the one at the door was Bruce.

"Hey, I was hoping to find you here." He said as a way of hello and kissed her forehead before changing the focus to the baby in her arms. Barbie had one arm out of her baby cocoon and held his finger with a strong grip. "Hello, Barbie! That's some serious Supergirl strength you have, isn't it? You sure you've no part with them?"

"Nah," Barbara said behind them, a dish cloth in her hands. "We just use alien pounder on her." She joked. "Hi, Bruce."

"I've a few things for you." He informed, as if he had just remembered it and went back outside, the door still open. When he came back, he had a dozen bags in his hands, probably filled with baby stuff. Barbara gasped, running to take a few bags from him and Selina gapped at him.

"And I was here thinking for a brief second that you came for me!"

Selina went back to the living room and put Barbie in her Moises while the other two took those bags to the baby's room. Barbie was thirteen days old, a  _Homo sapiens_  prototype with white-ginger hair and huge blue eyes that cried every three hours to be fed, changed, bathed. It also meant that almost a month had passed since Ivy disappeared. Twice Barbie's age, to be more precise and so far they had no clue at all of how to find her. So far, time was being unmerciful, eerie and fearful. Her picture weren't in the daily news anymore, the folders around town and in Gotham U were being covered by other things – newer things, more favorable things. Even around the GCPD was a rumor to move her box to the cold cases already and if it wasn't fucked up, what would be?

It didn't matter mater that Jim could go back to her box every now and then, one thing was certain: Ivy was being forgotten.

What a relief that Selina had a very good memory, thank you very much.

"Hello you." Bruce called from behind her, startling Selina from her thoughts and he jumped on the sofa by her side.

"Hi, B." The girl's voice was very soft, perhaps because the baby was quiet for once and she wanted her to continue that way. "What brought you here?"

"I thought that maybe you could use an extra pair of hands for a few hours. I heard new born aren't an easy task."

"They aren't!" she agreed. His reasons were a cover up, she was sure of it, but she also rolled with it for now. "All those diapers, Gosh!"

They laughed and talked and when Barbie claimed she was hungry they gave her to her mother, who informed them that lunch would be ready in forty minutes before they locked themselves in Selina's room.

"Is it urgent?" Selina asked, her head rested on Bruce's chest. He had a lock of her hair in his fingers, curling it with alarming calm.

"Not now."

It was only after lunch that he held her hand and led her to the balcony. The view was pretty from up there, it was her favorite part of the apartment. She liked the noise from the street and the angle the sunlight hit the windows at three in the afternoon.

"You were so worried" Bruce started "about sucking at being a big sister, but look at you totally nailing it."

"I am, ain't I?" she agreed. "Note to self: never doubt that I'm capable of everything."

By her side, Bruce chuckled making Selina tore her eyes from the skyline and look at him. It was almost three in the afternoon and his eyes were unusually clear, that greyish green stare that she'd only see in bed.

"What?" she asked and he shrugged.

"It's weird that you'd ever doubt yourself." The boy told her very frankly. "You've always felt like some sort of superheroine of your own for me."

It was flattering and it made her smile, but the girl also shook her head.

"I'm just a stray cat trying to survive, B." The honest truth and they both agreed to that. It took years and Bruce wasn't quite there, but she knew that he was getting it, getting her and getting Gotham itself. They were in silence for a while before she spoke again. "So? What is it?"

Bruce took a deep breath. It was urgent and it was the time, but he could have his own tempo. On the other hand, he knew that Selina could take it better than anyone else, for she had thick skin.

"I'm leaving tonight."

The only sign of surprise from the girl was a frown, as if she had suddenly faced a tricky math problem. That very night? It was sooner than she ever expected and his decision seemed sudden, like he had woken up and decided to do that, same way you decide to eat yogurt instead of bread at breakfast once in a while.

"Already." Selina finally spoke and Bruce nodded.

"You and Alfred are the only ones who know and we'll try to keep it that way for as long as it's possible."

"Why?"

"Don't want to make a fuss about it."

She nodded. They had talked about it before, about how he wanted to disappear someday the way she used to do in the streets, and how hard it was with his name being so big. She never took him very seriously. Maybe she should have.

"Look, I'm unreachable for a while, okay?" he told her. "No phone, no computers, no nothing. But if it's important, you tell Alfred and he'll know how to find me." She nodded again and he held her hand. "I'll contact you as soon as I can."

"It's okay." She said, because it really was.

There was a thing about Bruce and Selina that no one could understand but themselves, a connection beyond words and time as if they were meant for it – whatever "it" was -, as if nothing would stop them. Yet, they were stopping.

She let him kiss her goodbye – fast, for they didn't have any spare time to waste -, Barbara and Barbie saw it through the glass door and walls, no one cried.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Selina said, her voice low, her lips still touching his, her eyes locked in his and Bruce smiled.

"You too."

He left after that, knowing that she wouldn't break. And she didn't. She watched him say his goodbye to Barbara, who thought he'd be back any other day, and then watched him get in his fancy car and roll out.

Later that night, unable to sleep, Selina opened her email and clicked on that unread one that had been teasing her for days already. There was no subject, it was sent by "The Big Pond" and it had one line:

_Do you want help to find your sister Ivy Pepper?_

Her finger hit reply too fast, but Selina had to ponder for three seconds before typing her answer, praying that it wasn't too late.

_Yes._


	4. A CHAPTER OF OVERTHOUGHTS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, guys! I had a change of schedule, and both july and august were INSANE, but things are calmer now and I'm getting back on track. WE'RE SO CLOSE TO SEASON 2! Unbelievable! Can you wait? Because I can't!
> 
> Anyway, this is the longest chapter so far, I hope you like it. And you should know that even though it took a long time for me to update, the next chapter is already half way done, so it'll probably come sooner :D
> 
> I want to thank for the reviews I got. They are not many, but they matter and I'm forever grateful. And now for the chapter!

Turned out that the help the Big Pond could give her was a link to Central City Picture News about a man called Antonio Dorrance from Santa Prisca. Dorrance was reported missing the previous year, but not much was known for he wasn't American and it hadn't happened in America. After a while, everyone assumed that he was dead, but against all odds, Dorrance was found in Smallville in February badly beaten, unconscious and dependable of a drug that he carried in a primal system installed on his back. The guesses were that the drug eased the chronical case of his lungs. He was taken to Metropolis by a medical staff from LexCorp., and then sent to S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City, where they tried to figure out what was the drug that he was taking. He stayed in S.T.A.R. Labs for three months before a transition was made that allowed him to go to Singapore in late May.

The article was released on the day Dorrance landed in Singapore, his last stop, a couple of days before Selina got that email.

It was all very interesting, but hard to understand what it had to do with Ivy. Not sure of what Selina had to gain, she decided to research everything she could about Dorrance's case and found some curious things.

No one knew much about Antonio Dorrance's up bring, most of his childhood was a mystery, but rumor had it that he was the son of a big political guy in South America. For some reason, they had little to no interaction and somehow Dorrance, the son, ended up in Seattle, where he became a Jiu Jitsu teacher. In his mid-twenties, he was an annual book promise in anonymity and the only person that reported his missing was his boss, only after he didn't show up to work after three weeks. The boss had supposed that Dorrance had finally found a sponsor, since it was what his contact was trying to get him when he moved to America.

She didn't find much about this supposed contact he had. The only useful information was that the guy was a botanist, a bit of a recluse who also disappeared around the time Dorrance was gone.

Other thing she found out was a science article by S.T.A.R. Labs' Caitlin Snow-Raymond about Dorrance and his lungs condition, the circumstances in which he arrived and the analysis of his blood samples that accused modifications related to the drug he carried with him. He had mood swings and they couldn't figure out all the components of the drug that had some proprieties that were almost mesmerizing for the science world. She believed it to be something ahead of their time and was whiling to figure out what it was made of and how could they use it without bringing the same results it had on Dorrance.

It was a bit terrifying, really, but it was also everything Selina had, for after that link, it was like the whole world stopped for the Big Pond and she hadn't gotten any new gift, message, nothing. For weeks now, all she could do was dig deeper within the information she'd gotten. And lately, it wasn't being enough.

At certain point, the only thing she could think of looking at all those things about Antonio Dorrance was how long it took for him to be found and how, when it happened, he was irreparably broken. She couldn't afford to think that it'd take so long to find V, let alone to think that she'd be just as damaged. That would make the Pond's help rather useless, but maybe that wasn't their point at all. Maybe what they meant to say was "look at this pour soul. He was found. Don't worry too much, your sister will be too." And when she looked at it that way, it was reassuring.

[...]

With the Pond dry, and tied to the fact that there wasn't much Selina could do that the police wasn't doing already in Gotham (although it was unsettling), she could use the spare time to focus on the gallery and her own things, her own plans. It was clear that her approach wasn't being effective with the whole researching thing, so she had to try something else and her brain was working a mile per hour to figure something out.

She needed a new perspective, so on the following month and a half Selina gathered all the data about Fish, the gifts she got; she tried to cross it with all she knew about Ivy's disappearance, see if she could find a pattern that could be linked between what she knew about V and Dorrance and if she could find out if Fish was really alive at the same time, but it seemed that she was running in circles. It was time, Selina knew, to move. Actually move from place to place, looking for more, but for that she needed help.

Only one person would be able to help her with no questions and that was why she headed to Wayne Enterprises on a Monday morning.

"Lucius Fox, please." Selina said at the reception and the lady nodded. "Tell him Selina Kyle is here."

She got her card and in a couple of minutes the teen was heading to the main hall where she'd take the elevator to Lucius' level. Distracted looking for a bag of cookies in her purse, Selina didn't see when someone was in her way and she bumped into none less than Sid Banderslaw so hard that she almost fell down, but he held her shoulders, helping her stand.

"Easy…" he started, and then, when she looked up, his expression changed, oscillating between worried and amused. "Miss Kyle, what an honor."

Selina flashed her best smile.

"Hey, Sid." She said, knowing that he hated to be called by his first name by people he disliked (and she was pretty high on that list).

"Should I worry about my pockets, young lady?"

She scoffed, fixing the strap of her purse and hit the up button of the elevator before popping a tiny cookie in her mouth. She had only robbed him once, to make a copy of his safe's key, but he never forgot it. She could bet he never would.

"You've such little faith in me, Sid." She said, her mouth half full. "I'm a serious person now, haven't you met my parents, my sisters?" the elevator dinged opening the door and she quickly got in, hitting the close doors button. "You can catch the next one, right? See ya!"

As she went up, smiling and satisfied, Selina also managed to eat two other cookies in time for the lift reach to the top level of the Wayne building to meet the head of intelligence. When she opened the door to Lucius' office, he looked up at her with his glasses on the bridge of his nose looking like young Morgan Freeman and smiled.

"Hey Foxy!" she greeted and sat on one of the rolling chairs sliding to his side. "What are you working at now?"

"Nothing that would be your business, Selly." Lucius replied, but his tone was light. That dynamic they had was something that would always happen, her trying to sneak a peek of his work even if she didn't understand all of that math madness and him trying to shoo her from his back. Frowning curiously, he changed the subject completely. "Are those ginger cookies?"

"Yep." Selina offered him the bag and he gladly took one. "Those are total vegan and healthy stuff. Ivy would always bake those when Babs first learned about the pregnancy; apparently, it helps with morning sickness or something and we just got used to it."

With a smile, Lucius nodded.

"They are good." He told her. "Ginger cookies are my sister's favorite." It was very hard to get personal with Lucius Fox, so that tiny information he let slip lightened her face – it was nice to know that there were guys that were good human beings.

The light moment didn't last much, because time was running out and Selina was there for business, so she took a memory card from her purse and handed it to him, who took it carefully and already plucked it on his computer.

"What is it you brought to me?" he asked, opening file after file like a hacker movie.

"Things." Selina started, and after a quick glance from Lucius she continued. "Lots of things. I've been getting all these mail. Mostly from the east coast and I've been pulling info out of them."

Lucius had the archives going fast on his screen.

"What do you need, Selina?"

The golden question right in the open that made her sigh.

"A north." She confessed. "I need a new start and I think it's hidden in these files. I think that… if you cross the data and trace some sort of map, maybe I can figure something out, because it's been two years already and I tried to make it by hand and I couldn't think, I don't know what to do-"

"You have all of these for two years already?" he interrupted surprised and she shook her head.

"I started getting this mail for about two and a half years and when V disappeared I got ton of new stuff that made me lose track and I feel it will help me find her, but I can't seem to figure it out."

She finished her words with frustration and Lucius just nodded.

"A map?" he asked and she beckoned. "What do you plan to do with it? Backpack?" Selina just shrugged, flipping through something in her purse and Lucius smiled. "Give me a week and you'll have a whole interface with its own web connection, untraceable and  _what the hell are you doing_?"

Selina stopped what she was doing – which was go through the contents of a wallet – and looked at him with innocent eyes. He could see the picture of Sid Banderslaw's driver license. Without a word, she continued to check the many cards, photos and papers Sid had.

"I know, Foxy" she finally said, not looking up at him again. "You're the best, that's why I came to you. I know you can come up with something beyond my imagination…" she paused, pulling a card hidden between some papers that seemed useless. "Do you know what it means?" she asked, turning the card to Lucius, who held his breath when he saw it. Selina nodded. "I thought so."

She pulled out her cellphone and took a picture of the card, sending a copy to Alfred with the same question she made for Lucius. The card was very minimalist and unique, but the owl – looking wise and eerie – said it all.

"A week?" she asked, and Lucius nodded. She shoved the money (at least a thousand dollars) from the wallet in to her purse, put the rest of the contents into it with little care, all in front of him, who could hardly hide a smile, before she got up to leave almost forgetting her bag of ginger cookies on the table. "Okay, you can have another and if we find Ivy, I'll bake more just for you."

"We have a deal." He replied very seriously taking a cookie from the bag and making her smile, and they shook hands to seal it.

Selina got back in the elevator chewing on a cookie and checking her phone, anxiously waiting for Alfred's reply. It wasn't like she would tell Alfred anything, not like they had become friends, but he was a reliable man who knew things. She had a good guess of what that owl card meant, there was a good chance she was right just based on Lucius reaction, but she wanted Alfred's say on it too.

She left the visitor card at the reception, dropped Sid's wallet in the first bin she found after flashing a smile to one of the cameras and she was crossing the door when her phone buzzed, but it wasn't Alfred on the other side.

"Harleen?"

"Selly, hi." Ivy's girlfriend sounded both excited and nervous, which was weird.

During those first weeks, Selina and Harleen were always in touch, but as days went by it was hard to get together without saying the same things over again, so they drifted apart, each one doing their own thing.

"Are you busy?" she asked and Selina walked slower, fumbling to find her keys.

"Not exactly." The teen replied. "Why?"

"I think I might have something." Harleen hushed, as if it was a secret and Selina hurried to get in her car, because any news about Ivy would be overwhelming and she had to sit down.

"Okay," Selina said slowly, putting her purse and cookies on the passenger seat. "Continue on."

"You know I've been putting all those posters around town three times a week, sometimes more. It's desperate, but desperation is all we have, right?" it wasn't, in the teen's opinion, but she wouldn't interrupt. "I was beginning to think that maybe no one would help when this guy called me, he said he thinks he saw something that might help and asked me to meet him. I figured you'd like to join me."

Selina took a deep breath.

"I would, indeed."

"And I want you to come with me."

"Okay. When?"

"This afternoon," Harleen told her. "It's a place called Deck of Cards in the Hill."

For a second or two Selina stopped breathing. Maybe her heart even stopped beating for the simple fact that she knew that place and she  _hated_  it.

"Leen, what's the name of the guy that called you?" she asked carefully.

"Hm… Jerome. His name is Jerome."

In her T-Bird, Selina closed the door and closed her eyes, one hand on the steering wheel and the other still holding her phone in place. Her stomach protested at the sound of his name.  _Of course_ , Selina thought,  _of course Jerome would be the one to have information about what happened around Arkham_. He was gaining territory there and if that wasn't scary on its own, she didn't know what would be. Opening her eyes, she looked at her black dress, leather jacket, low boots knowing that she was underdressed.

"Do you know the place?" Harleen continued. "Do you know him?"

"Where are you?" Selina deflected getting it together and starting the car.

"The C Building, Upper East Side."

"Alright, don't move." She said, the motor coming alive along with her brain. "I'm at the Wayne Tower and I'll be there in fifteen."

Which wasn't true, because she got there in thirteen, honking in front of the building. Harleen played Roller Derby and that made her wardrobe the coolest. She always had bruises and some of the trainings were in the park. The college girl got in the car glowing with excitement.

"Are we going now?" the blonde asked, her blue eyes big and intense and Selina shook her head no.

"We're going to my house."

Harleen frowned and tilted her head confused.

"Why?"

"I need to suit up." Selina explained, starting the car again. "There's no way I'm going to Jerome's without a gun."

[...]

The Gordon home was noisy when Selina and Harleen arrived, the sounds of Jim – on his day off – playing with Barbie in the living room and Babs talking on the phone filled the ambient in a warm way.

"Dad?" Selina called going straight to the stairs that led to her room. "Can you give me my knives?"

" _Knives_?" Harleen echoed at the same time Jim shouted from the living room

"Why would I do that?"

From the door of her room, she shouted back

"Because they are mine and I need them!" and closed the door.

Inside, while Harleen sat on Ivy's bed, Selina changed into skinny jeans, a black tank top, stilettos and her favorite leather jacket. From under her bed, she took a wood box and emptied the contents on top the mattress. Harleen had stood up and had her back to her, looking at the huge board the girls had in their room. That board used to be filled with calendars, dry leaves and college notes, but now it had a big map of Gotham and a copy of every single clue one could find in the police report (that Selina had Jim copying for her, and then she put it together with Bruce's help. There were several photos of that board among the files she gave to Lucius) about Ivy's case. If Jerome really had something that could help, she'd have something else to add there.

"Please, don't touch it." Selina asked as Harleen was reaching for one of the evidences and the blonde turned around ready to say something that was probably different from

"Holy fuck." That was what actually came out. Selina was checking the bullets of an automatic pistol. "Is that really necessary?"

Selina smiled.

"Do you know why the Deck of Cards is in the Hill?" she asked and Harleen shook her head. "Because it's right next to Arkham and Jerome understands the power of the insane. He's clever and unmeasurably nuts, you need to be careful around him, okay?" as she spoke, she was also hiding three knives in strategical pockets and the gun on her holster. Among the many knives she had in her bed, she found two small ones and hid them in the wrists of her jacket under Harleen's watchful eyes.

"You're really serious about this." She said slowly, for the first time starting to feel worried. "Maybe we shouldn't go. Do you think he's lying?"

"No. Jerome doesn't play around, even though he likes to pretend like he does. If there's someone who could know something, that's him. Ivy was taken near his turf after all."

She didn't say the second part of her thoughts, however, that it would be hard to actually get anything out of him, that he would probably ask for a favor and that it wasn't good to owe him anything. She had a plan, but wasn't sure if it'd work. And she didn't want to freak Harleen out. This was the first lead they had since the Big Pond stopped sending things.

"How do you even have a gun, though." The older girl changed the subject and Selina smiled again.

"This is America, Harley. How come  _you_  don't have one?"

Harleen shivered.

"I don't even know how to hold it. The most dangerous things I've ever held were clubs in my gymnastic days."

Selina shook her head and rolled her eyes mockingly.

"Boring." And turning to the door, she shouted again. "JAMES!"

"Goddamit, Sel." Jim called, coming up the stairs. Just the sight of the pair of butterfly knives in his hand sent a rush of adrenalin through her. "Why do you even need them, are you going to sell them? Do you need money?"

It was so offensive that the teen even stepped back.

" _Sell it_? I sell half of my liver before I sell those beauties! Now, give them to me." She asked, reaching to get them and Jim held them out of her reach.

"You're not even supposed to have them yet." He said, the tease in his eyes.

It was true, he had promised her to give them to her in her 18th birthday, but everyone in the house talked about the knives as if they already were hers. Gordon got those knives when he was in the army and he taught Selina how to use them before he taught her how to drive. They weren't as cool as her whip, but it wasn't a good idea to show up at the Deck flashing a whip just because.  _Oh, I felt like carrying it around, don't worry_. Nah, this was a special case. She needed her knives.

Usually, she'd play along – it used to happen every trimester or so, when she'd find an excuse to have them out of the box – but now she really needed to get going if she wanted to be done with Jerome as soon as possible, so she used her last resource sooner than she normally would.

"Come on, daddy, don't make me beg!"

Jim narrowed his eyes.

"You think that calling me ' _daddy_ ' will make it easier?" she pouted and nodded just once and he sighed, putting the knives in her open, waiting hand. "You are… these girls are gonna kill me." He concluded and Selina couldn't help but briefly hug him.

"Thanks, daddy!" it always,  _always_  worked. Ivy once said that due to their rough start, it always softened him faster if the girls were soft on him. She was damn right, as usual.

[...]

They arrived at the Deck of cards in the middle of the afternoon, an oddly foggy day of June even for Gotham's standards, but Selina took her time to leave the car, making sure that every weapon was in place.

"So…" Harleen started, side-eyeing Selina. "What's the story?"

"What story?" the younger girl asked and the blonde sighed.

Selina looked at the club across the street and then to Harleen by her right, choosing what to say. Her story with Jerome was delicate and complicated.

"Let's just say that the 15th year of my life was troubled and he can fuck you up real good." She told her, being as vague as possible and looked into Harleen's eyes. "I'm dead serious when I say that you need to be careful about him, around him. He's charming, plays nice, but he's no fool. You understand that?"

Harleen nodded and it satisfied Selina, so she got out of the car followed by the other girl.

"Damn Selly, you're making me feel awfully underdressed right now." She commented and Selina looked at her.

It was true that maybe Selina overdressed for that, but she needed the extra inches if she wanted to intimidate anyone. But Harleen, coming fresh off the Roller Derby training with a bruise in her chin and a killing outfit didn't fall behind.

"Nah." The younger said. "You're good." And they crossed the entry.

The Deck of Cards was a bright place despite its dark walls. It was supposed to be a poker house, but you couldn't see the poker tables anywhere. Like any illegal place, the business actually happened downstairs, but they wouldn't find Jerome there. Jerome had his own office in the main hall, with his own poker table where she once won fair and square at the age of fifteen and had a few consequences about it in a face to face on that same table. There were some bad memories there, but also pretty kick-ass too – although not enough to make her guts behave whenever Jerome was somehow involved with anything.

"Look at all of these…" Harleen commented walking towards one of the boards hanging around the main saloon. They were filled with missing persons and reward photos of people wanted by the police or the Penguin. On the one next to it, Selina spotted a familiar face.

"Hey, isn't it one of yours?" she said, pointing at a poster with a photo of Ivy, a HAVE YOU SEEN HER? CALL ME and Harleen's number.

"Yeah…" the blonde said, almost dreamily and reached to touch it with shaky fingers.

"Selina." A soft female voice called, all sugary and slow, a voice that Selina knew well and didn't quite like. Since she already was in poker face mode, though, it wasn't hard to turn with fake calm.

"Silver."

With her platinum hair and long legs, Silver St. Cloud was a few inches taller than Selina and also was one of the reasons why Ivy hated Bruce so much. Despite the fact that Silver seemed to really like him, Selina couldn't shake the feeling that she was somehow off, and the fact that she was  _there_ , dressed as one of Jerome's toys, put the teen on edge even more.

"What are you doing  _here_?" Silver asked still sugary and Selina shrugged.

"I could ask you the same." She replied, stepping closer. With both girls on heels, they still had that height difference. "I confess I thought you could be a lot of things, but not a  _tool_."

The best thing about Silver was that she didn't know how to mask her anger as well as everyone else and to see her swallow the insult was rather satisfying. Angry, she stroke back.

"Have you seen Bruce lately, Selly?" she poked, knowing that the girl disliked being called by her nickname by her. "He's been falling out of the radar for months already, isn't he? I mean, I know he can be a hermit sometimes…"

Selina scoffed, cutting her short.

"The fact that you think I'd know is flattering, really."

"What, you don't? Aren't you one of  _his_  tools?"

Selina widened her eyes mockingly.

"Oh, I see. You're trying to get back at me with my own words." She got closer and hushed the following part just for the sake of drama. "But if you think that I was a tool, then I wonder what that makes  _you_  for him."

Silver's eyes went dark for a couple of seconds. The real intention of the phrase was to make her cut the crap and stop bringing Bruce to it, because, really, he was always nice to her and never treated her like less than a person. He would have his affairs and be a bit of a dick with people he didn't  _know_ , but both Selina and Silver were deeply cared about by him and he never hurt them. Silver wasn't around anymore on her own account – and it wasn't as if Selina wanted her back, she still disliked her -, not because "something happened".

Besides, Selina always got bored pretty fast when it came to fight about men. She liked to fight about cooler things, like poker bets and car's scratches.

"Where's Jerome, Silver?" Selina demanded walking towards the door that led to his office. She was mildly aware of Harleen mooning around her and probably not getting anything, and she _would've_  looked back just to make sure that the blonde was ready for what was to come  _if_  Silver hadn't stepped in front of her, reaching to do something that resembled a lot like  _touch_  her, which was so off limits that Selina felt like stabbing her just for thinking of it.

"You need to leave your weapons before getting in." Silver said firmly, her hands still up in a universal ' _stop_ ' sign and Selina stepped forward again, this time making sure to speak loud and clear for whoever wanted to hear.

"If you as much  _try_  to touch me, you will lose a hand." She said with a coolness that could freeze souls, making sure to say it very clearly. "And if you somehow succeed, I won't make small promises. Now," she continued, seeing Silver's fingers tremble and not giving two shits. "Where is JEROME." The last part was a calling out and she said his name so fiercely that the girl in front of her actually stepped back, dropping her hands.

"Damn, Selina, that was-" Harleen began to say, but was cut short by a hysterical laugh coming from within the building.

Taking his time, Jerome came from his office, the theatricality of it all making Selina roll her eyes. Couldn't they just get it over with already?

"Selina Kyle." He said clapping his hands together, making his way to her. "Long time no see." And as if he couldn't keep it serious for long, he smiled maniacally the way he could be. Selina swore that if he didn't stop, someone would put a permanent smile upon his face and depending on the day, that person could be herself, just for the joke of it.

"What a shame it had to change." She replied sounding bored.

Jerome shook his head slow and sad. He was very tall, taller than Bruce, and his red hair was dark and interesting, falling over his eyes. If he wasn't completely bonkers, she would find him attractive, but since Selina knew exactly who he was and what he could do – thanks, Babs! – there was no room for cuteness.

"You dismiss our love so easily, Selly." He said and she took a deep breath.

"You don't get to call me by pet names." She alerted him. By then, he was so close that she had to look up to keep eye contact.

"Don't tell me you're still bitter about those tights."

She crisped her eyes.

"I  _loved_  those tights." She retorted. "But I don't know, how did you like the scar?"

This time, he was the one to crisp his eyes and since he wasn't a big fan of conversations getting too intimate – well, not when  _he_  was the center of the exposed intimacy – he decided to turn the focus to the other person in the room, the new flesh in the form of amazed, scared Harleen Quinzel.

"And who's this pretty one?"

He was so fast in Harleen's face that she had to step back twice and almost tripped on a table. Before Selina could come to her rescue, she already began to talk.

"You called me, said you had information about Pam."

"Oh!" he exclaimed, licking his lips in a frantic way. His eyes had a way of studying them individually – Harleen, Selina, Silver – but never quite rest, it was disturbing. "Pamela Isley. You know, I met her as Ivy Pepper." He shot a glance to Selina, who had her hands on her hips in an  _I'm waiting_  pose. "V…" he continued and laughed. "Couldn't hide forever under  _Pamela Isley_."

He laughed again, scarier and Selina loudly sighed so completely done with him.

"It does roll nice in the tongue, doesn't it, Sel?"

"Second warning, Jerome." Selina said sounding as bored as she was nervous. She was a hundred percent sure that it had been a bad idea to go there, but there was no going back now. "You know I don't play games."

"Oh, you think you're the only deadly thing here?" he asked and reached for the pink in Harleen's hair. "I mean, have you  _seen_  her?"

In her defense, Harleen did try to step away from him, but Jerome had a way of occupying your space that was rather claustrophobic.

"Just tell us what the fuck you know about V already." The younger girl demanded so, so done with him and he finally stepped away from Harleen.

"Yeah, but, you see, that's the kind of crap that demands a favor."

Harleen opened her mouth to say something, but Selina was faster this time.

"We are not gonna owe you shit, Jerome. If anyone is in debt here, that one is you."

He had his eyes locked on her and laughed again, but there was an edge there that meant she was stepping in minefield.

"Why would I owe you  _anything_ , Selina Kyle, you  _almost killed me_."

Selina smiled matter-of-factly and stepped closer, her boots clicking on the floor.

"But you're still alive, aren't you? And isn't it how this life works? Isn't it what you say for those  _you_  keep alive? You break a few bones, leave a couple of scars and say 'You can live! But remember this kindness!', am I right?" by then, she already was standing between him and Harleen. "Therefore, we don't owe you shit. Now, start. Talking."

For almost a whole minute there was just silence between them, the only sounds coming from cars outside and the music in the basement, and then Jerome smiled as if they had a deal.

"Alright, you raise a good point!" he said with fake glee, starting to pace around. He went to the boards with all the missing people and took Ivy's photo from the wall. "It wasn't in my turf, you know? I saw her closer to gate B. She got cute."

"Jerome." Selina warned. All she wanted was to get the hell out of there with more information about V and she couldn't place if he was telling the truth, but he was all they had.

"I'm getting there, Selina, don't rush me." He said, pacing back in front of the girls, V's poster still in his hands. "I was around doing my thing when I saw the taxi dropping her and I recognized her – the red hair gave her away, you know we red heads need to stick together."

Selina wanted to say that Ivy would never team up with Jerome, but she suspected that it'd distract him, so she kept her mouth shut. He continued once he realized they wouldn't feed him.

"She was distracted with her phone when some guys started to approach her."

"What guys?" Harleen asked eagerly and Jerome looked at her lazily.

"I don't know, sweetheart, but they weren't from here. Differently from the woman." He paused, knowing that they would want to know more and the girls stepped closer. "Ivy clearly knew her, because they called each other by the name and there was some sort of…  _intimacy_  you only have with people you know."

"How was she?" Selina asked. "The woman."

Jerome shrugged,

"Can't remember very well, I don't know. Tall, I guess. Taller than Ivy, but maybe it was the heels. Brunette, wearing a lab coat like the docs in Arkham, but not exactly. Came on a car as soon as the guys trapped little Pepper."

Then Ivy really was kidnapped?

"Did she go by choice?" Harleen questioned, her voice small with the worry about the answer they could get and, for her surprise, he laughed.

"No!" Jerome said, still laughing as if it was genuinely funny. "No, Jesus. She fought rather hard, it was entertaining. They knocked her down and put her in the car, and then left."

Selina thought about it, balancing the facts. There was a chance Jerome could be lying, but he had never passed as the kind of guy to bother, so she had to consider everything. And everything could take a new turn now, maybe. She'd have to update Jim about it.

"Do you remember anything else?" Selina tried one last time, for she was ready to go. "Did you see the plate of the car or something?"

"There was a Metropolis sticker." He said, now sounding bored as if he was done with their presence. "On the window, something that looked scientific."

Selina nodded, still organizing the things in her head.

"If you knew all of this, why didn't you tell the police sooner?"

"Are you kidding me?" he scoffed, making a ball with Ivy's poster and throwing it over his shoulder. "All the police's numbers traced down to your dear cop dad that, may I remind you, tried to get me locked up more than once. Plus," he stopped in front of Selina, but looked back at Harleen, "it was the first time that the number was of a pretty lady." He winked and Selina watched Harleen blush through and through, but fast enough she had his attention again. "Although I should have imagined that she'd bring you along, if I was a little more clever. That rag looks way better now, by the way, Cat." He completed, his fingers brushing the exposed skin of her breasts and that was one of his many mistakes.

In the blink of an eye, Selina cut the back of his hand with one of her wrist knives blocking his attack with one swift movement and threw another knife in Silver's direction just to stop her from getting the gun she ran to.

Jerome was right, though, and Selina wasn't the only deadly person there. He could be only brute strength, but he  _was_  stronger  _and_  taller after all and the girl felt grateful for all the Jiu Jitsu and self-defense skills that both Jim and Bruce taught her, because she had to use them all.

It was a good thing, too, to have stored all those knives around, because he was able to block a few of her blows and the ones that hit were quickly stopped. In one lucky instant after Jerome came really close to knock her down, Selina used the other wrist knife to make a cut in his left cheek and that moment of distraction was all she needed.

She knocked him off his feet, locked his left arm with the heel of her boot and the right arm with her other knee. The blood was dripping in a perfect line from his left ear to upper lip, but it wasn't a deep cut and he looked both pissed and almost scared. Cold inside, Selina just eyed him tilting her head from side to side, shifting her weight on his chest lazily. Slowly, she took the gun from her holster and unlocked it, but instead of pointing it at him, she pointed to her left, towards Silver who was trying to make a move.

"Don't even think about it, St. Cloud." She warned, without breaking eye contact with Jerome. "Have you ever heard the story of how Sal Maroni died?" she asked him "and, you know, I told you not to call me by pet names, you know you're not allowed."

Selina was so calm, the whole room was on hold. Jerome looked at her as if already making plans for when they'd meet again. She continued.

"You were really nice today, though, Jerome, so I guess we should let it be this time, what do you think?"

He didn't say anything, so she got a little closer to his face. Without being asked, Harleen started to gather Selina's dispensed knives from the floor, probably sensing that they'd have to leave fast and that Selina'd like to have her weapons back, but the teen didn't give it too much thought, finally pointing the gun to Jerome's head.

"What?" she almost hushed. "Cat got your tongue?"

He took a deep breath, never leaving her eyes.

"It doesn't end here." Jerome finally said and Selina shrugged and then got up.

"Of course it doesn't. But look! You're alive again, still. Isn't it incredible?" she locked her gun again, put it back in its place walking towards the door with Harleen in her heels. She didn't have to give any instruction, the girl was picking up fast, she was  _good_. "Now, you know what to do, right? Remember this kindness."

Once outside, they walked fast, close to running, to get to the car. Selina had left the key easy to find and Harleen had hardly dumped the four rescued knives on the floor of the T-Bird when Selina started the car.

Out of all the things the blonde could question, however, what she asked first was-

"Who was Sal Maroni?" she dared to look at Selina's profile and even though she was belted up, she was also holding for dear life on the panel, figuring that the other girl wouldn't ease on the gas until they were out of the Hill.

"One of the old mob bosses, from before the Penguin."

"How did he die?"

"Fish killed him." She answered, and it was as if she was watching the scene again live that exact moment, loud, clear and in full HD. It still was awesome.

"And who's Fish?"

"The most brilliant boss this city ever had, gone too soon." Selina said, her voice sad, her mind asking the same questions it did whenever she'd get a new package. "I miss her."

"Okay…" Harleen mumbled looking out of the window for a second. They could see the Narrows Bridge already, record time, and Selina slowed it down. "Why did she kill him?"

For that, Selina smiled, for the first time taking her eyes from the street and turning to quickly look at Harleen.

"Because he was a misogynist bitch."

[...]

The knock on Selina's room door made her feel even sicker, but by then she thought that her stomach was already empty, so she just rested her cheek against the cold wall of the bathroom, trying to recollect the pieces of her dignity.

She had to tell them. She had to open her mouth and tell Babs and Jim and let them help her decide what to do.

But it was  _so hard_  to form the words and Jim would be  _such a bitch_  about it, because he was always raging about 'PROTECTION, YOU KIDS ARE USING PROTECTION?' and now-

"Selly, I'm coming in." Barbara announced cracking the door open and once she heard no protest, she did just what she said.

"I thought you were at the park." Selina said from the floor, her voice hoarse, and Barbara came to her rescue, checking to see if she was feverish or whatever moms did to guarantee that their kids were fine.

"I got a call from Rachel telling me that you were feeling sick and had to come home, she sounded very worried. We came straight back." She explained before anything.

"You didn't need to do that." The teen told her. "It's just…" she took a deep breath, swallowed, thought ' _say it'_  and "something I ate, probably. You shouldn't even stay too close."

Barbara scoffed and put one of the girl's curls back in place.

"Oh, I'm taking care of my girls while I can." She made clear and sat on the floor too, right in front of Selina, who avoided eye contact. "Besides, you don't really think I don't know what's going on, do you?"

At that, the girl's head shot straight up startled.

"You do?" she asked and Babs sighed worried.

"I know that you're too tiny and you're putting a heavy burden on your back, too heavy that you shouldn't need to carry. I see you with Jim studying this case, helping with Barbie, going to work and doing all the extra research and it's too much, baby, you're crushing your system."

It was the same argument people were using for almost a couple of months, the same argument she herself used to explain all the sickness and it wasn't a lie, but for how long could she keep it up? She already had to change that A-cup for a B.

"Mom-" Selina tried to interrupt, but Babs was too smart to fall for it like Jim.

"I know you want to find Ivy, Selly, we all do. I miss her every day! But you also need to take care of yourself. I know it must be weird without them, but it's important." She paused, analyzing Selina's risen eyebrow for a couple of seconds. "I mean, now with Bruce gone as well."

"What does Bruce have to do with everything?"

Barbara smiled.

"Everyone know you're each other's anchor, am I wrong?" she chuckled and Selina scoffed. "Come on, don't tell me you're still pretending you don't love him."

Feeling attacked, Selina crossed her arms and Barbara chuckled again, amused by her own joke. It didn't last much, though, because a wave of nausea hit the teen, that quickly turned to the toilet bowl heaving whatever was left out, but this time she had the comfort of Barbara pulling her hair and caressing her back with reassuring circles.

"You know, V taught me  _lots_  of food hacks to ease stomach pain. If you like, I can prepare you something." Babs offered, her voice warm and soft. "That'd be nice, wouldn't it?" she continued and feeling lightheaded, the teen just nodded gladly.

Following her own words, the woman took care of her girl very carefully and lovingly, help her clean up the bathroom, preparing a bath and chatting about nothing important, which gave the teen no reason at all to tell her at the same time that she tried to organize a math in her head of all the things she planned on doing in the near future.

"I never saw you as a Superman girl, Selly." Barbara said as Selina was drying off and changing into some fresh clothes.

"I'm not." She replied and Babs turned to her with a blue T-shirt with the famous S in front of it and Selina opened her mouth in an  _O_.

The shirt had arrived the previous Friday, the first thing she got in a very long time. Although it was about Superman, the hero of Metropolis, it came from Smallville with the name of the city on the back. Ever since a rumor about Smallville being Superman's hometown spread, those souvenirs started to be sold. There was only one thing she could come up with that gift.

"Someone gave it to me."

"Who?"

"A client, I guess. I came back from lunch and it was on the office's table with no addresser, just my name."

Barbara frowned, but she didn't have time to say anything, because Jim knocked on the door and got in without waiting for permission – it was good that Selina already had put on a summer dress – with Barbie very awake in his arms. He acknowledged them, quickly glanced at the crime board on the wall and then turned to the teen.

"Selly, Lucius Fox is here, he said he has something for you." He announced and she raised her eyebrows surprised. She only expected to see Lucius the following day  _maybe_ , because there was a chance of his one week deadline to be expanded. "He asked me to tell you to bring your computer."

"Okay." Selina answered, almost automatically and Jim's posture changed as he sensed that something was going on.

Barbara dropped the tee on the empty bed and Selina reached to get her computer on her nightstand, but this thing in particular wouldn't be easy to diverge.

"Selina," Jim called like a warning. "What's going on?"

And she had to tell them. Not the ' _I'm pregnant_ ' part, but the other concern she had. The one involving a map, random data, her beloved T-Bird and probably many days of backpacking across America. While Lucius installed many programs in her computer, she told them every single details of her idea, trying to convince them that it was their only shot at the moment if they wanted to know more about what had happened to Ivy.

"You're going to  _Seattle_?" Barbara asked seriously worried as if she didn't spend half of her youth doing reckless things, but Selina shook her head.

"No, what I'm saying is that this Dorrance dude from Seattle is somehow related to V's kidnapping, he's the only lead we had in weeks and I'm willing to dig deeper, but not in his hometown – I mean, it's not his  _hometown_ , but anyway -, but, I don't know, I'm thinking about starting in Smallville, where he was found."

From his seat by the table, Lucius said nothing, but raised an eyebrow while Jim and Barbara exchanged a look. Selina continued.

"And then I'll continue searching for clues until I find her." Silence followed and then Barbie made some baby noised that sounded like approval for Selina. "Look, it's clear that she's not in Gotham, they wouldn't be so dumb, not with a cop's daughter. And whoever Jerome saw was  _not_  dumb. We need to expand to other jurisdictions if we want to know more. I can do this."

They remained unconvinced and Selina grew nervous.

"I don't know, baby." Barbara argued. "It already was too dangerous when you went alone to face Jerome, he could've hurt you." Selina scoffed, but the older woman continued. " _He could_. And you should've told at least Jim about it, have some back up. I don't think you should go alone."

"I'm not going alone." She said. They all looked at her, waiting and she thought better. "Okay, I  _am_  going alone this time, but I wasn't alone at the Deck and Jerome is a pussy, he got his ass kicked.  _And_ " the girl continued, "he would never talk to a cop, let alone Jim, you all know that."

"How do you plan on doing it alone, you're just a girl." The cop asked instead and Selina shook her head offended.

"I'm not just a girl, I'm the motherfucking boss." She corrected him. "Lucius is doing the doppiest of the hacks for me to stay constantly in touch, my plan is to always call – to talk and exchange any new info we get -, and I'm fucking awesome. Besides, you can't go. You have to go be Tenant and Babs will go back to work. Take care of Barbie and make sure she's getting enough blankets at night. Meanwhile, someone's gotta go find Ivy and I'm her best option."

Anxious, Selina didn't know what to do with her hands. That was a conversation with a lot of silent moments, and she couldn't sit still waiting for their final word. Everyone in there knew that she'd go one way or another, she already had thought it through, but just the fact that she told them was a huge step in their relationship. Two years before, when she went to gamble at the Deck of Cards, she didn't even let them know she was leaving, she just snuck out leaving no note at all and came back with a bag full of money and ripped clothes. Look how far they'd come.

"What about the gallery?" Barbara asked. From her tone, Selina knew that she had gotten a green light. "I can't go back yet, Barbie is only two months old."

Selina nodded. She really had thought it all through.

"Marla can handle things until you're ready, you just need to counsel from home.

"Marla?" the blonde asked, just to make sure. "Do you trust her?" and the teen nodded.

If you didn't know what happened two years earlier, you'd completely question Barbara's decision of letting her business in the hands of a seventeen years old. But you knew better.

"She can do it." Selina assured. Her word was everything Barbara needed and she nodded, giving her approval. Jim, on the other hand, needed a little more time yet.

"What you're planning on doing" he said, "can take a few weeks or months. It can last for so long, kid." He sighed, suddenly tired and she waited. "But you're right, you're awesome. If anyone can pull this off, that's you. I just…" he drifted off for a few seconds, taking in her expression. "Please, be safe?"

Finally, Selina nodded.

"Gotham's first rule." She replied, making Jim smile too. "No heroes."

"No heroes." He echoed.

 _Good_  – she thought -,  _I don't want to be a hero anyway_.

"If you pull this off, solve this case" Babs said, "you could follow Jim's footsteps and become a cop too, what do you think?"

Selina scoffed so loud and dramatically with those words that it was even funny.

"Don't be absurd, woman." She said, glancing at her father as if asking him to tell Babs how ridiculous that was, but the same way Selina didn't help much when they were deciding little Barbie's name, Jim just shrugged, indicating that he thought that she could have this profession too. Which shouldn't be surprising in Gotham.


	5. A CHAPTER WITH BACKPACKING

The long version of the story about how Selina ended up with a beautiful and rare Thunderbird 88 started a few weeks after her 16 th birthday when she got her license and after Jim and Babs said that her birthday present would be a car, to what Ivy exclaimed-

“Wait! Who’s choosing the model?” which was a valuable point that interested the older teen profoundly, for Jim had a terrible thing for ugly 90s cars.

“ **Me**.” Selina said de pronto, so emphatically that both adults frowned.

“As long as it doesn’t costs more than 5 grands, we’re good.” And that made for a good deal. If anything, Selina had managed to save 3 grands during the months she had been working for Babs with the exact goal of buying a car.

It was a nice morning of March when the snow still hadn’t melt, and she had spent the previous night at the Manor, where they managed to finish two seasons of _The X Files_ as a late celebration of Bruce’s 15 th birthday (she was on the west coast with Babs at the time). She woke up early at the sound of cars’ engineering and since she had to go anyway, Selina got out of bed without waking the boy, got dressed and gathered her things, for a change leaving though the front door.

That’s where the story gets interesting, because as she stepped outside, she faced about twenty classic cars that she guessed were all those covered models from the insanely huge garage of the manor and they were so many and so beautiful that the girl had to remind herself to breathe again.

Another car came and parked right in front of her, a black BMW looking straight out of a 80s’ movie, and Alfred came out from behind the wheel looking badass and eyeing her curiously.

“Miss Kyle?” he asked and finally she was able to close her mouth.

“What’s going on?” Selina asked crossing the front yard towards the prettiest Thunderbird she had ever seen. For some reason, she knew the butler would follow her and so he did.

“Master B’s grandfather was a car collector and Master Thomas kept this tradition, but Bruce has little to none liking for old cars.” At this point of his explanation, Selina turned to him with mouth agape just to find a look in Alfred’s eyes pretty similar to apology. “And since he wants to buy some new ones, he had the idea of auctioning these beauties and use the money for charity.”

Selina nodded and shrugged.

“Sounds like a good idea.” She said, touching the hood of the T-Bird. The metal was slowly heating under the lazy winter sun and the color was just so pretty. Alfred continued.

“He’s going to keep two or… five for him and the other will go.”

“Is _this one_ going?” she asked looking through the glass to see the panel in black, white and red leather.

“It is, in fact,” the butler responded and Selina’s heart broke a little.

“Do you think Bruce would sell it to me?” she wondered, her fingers sliding on the recently polished metal of the door, and then she tested the lock. The door was open and from inside came the smell of leather and classic that made her want to listen to some Joan Jett. Everything was new and original, she could bet that the car hadn’t even been used.

She didn’t have money for a car like that, she knew that. But one could dream.

“I don’t think he’d mind,” Alfred said, surprising her and he continued. “Go on,” he said and didn’t even have to say it twice. She quickly hopped onto the driver’s seat with eyes and hands amazed by the beauty of the car.

Without even noticing, she sighed. That was it, she had fallen madly in love with that car already and she didn’t even know if she could have it. Looking up at the butler, Selina could see that Alfred was hiding a smile; in her mind, she made some math, trying to calculate how much that car would cost and how far she was from having the money.

“I don’t have much.” The teen admitted, but he shrugged – an act so not-Alfred-like that it was almost confusing.

“I doubt that would be a problem.”

“I mean, I hardly have enough for this beauty. Does it have a name?”

Selina had gone with Ivy to countless second-hand sales looking for a car that was cute and affordable and all the T-Birds that she had found were not so pretty, with weird colors and half-life engineering, the cheapest costing four grands. That Wayne T-Bird? It was something out of a museum, it was unique and it had a posture that matched hers, like it had been made for her, but she couldn’t afford it.

Paying better attention to the steering wheel, she noticed that instead of Ford’s logo, it had a styled W, and it occurred to her that perhaps that model really was unique, perhaps Bruce’s grandfather had had Ford doing his own, personal red T-Bird from the last generation.

Well, not _perhaps_. More like _probably_.

Seeing that she noticed the details, Alfred really smiled and she _caught_ him, noticing for the first time that he was an automobile lover just like her.

(she didn’t know exactly how or why her love for cars existed, she only knew it was there, inside her, and it was totally fine)

“I’m afraid not,” he answered. “You’ll have to do the honors. How much do you have?”

“Eight grands top,” she assumed, looking guilty and pouting. She already could feel the leather slipping from her hands even though she was holding to it with love and care. She was so sure that he wouldn’t agree, it was a Wayne car (!), but-

“It’s yours.” Alfred cut her line of thought and Selina looked at him shocked.

“Come again?”

“You can have it.” He replied, guessing that maybe using other words she’d get it.

“But… it’s not even close to what you guys can do at the auction.”

Alfred straight up scoffed. It wasn’t even nine in the morning and that day already was about twenty shades of crazy.

“And then some other billionaire would never do as much as display it for guests that should be impressed? That’s the opposite reason why Master B decided to be rid of them.”

“I thought it was for charity.”

“The money is. But he also wanted them to be seen and used. We won’t use them. His grandfather never did. And many people will purchase them and do exactly the same – stuck these cars in garages, just to say that they have them.” He reasoned. “No. If you have it, then we know someone is doing good use of it.”

Selina had never seen someone so eager to sell something for such a low price outside of Chinatown. And if Alfred thought that she should keep that beautiful, shiny, lovely car, then she wouldn’t argue anymore.

“I don’t have the money with me, though, so I’ll have to talk to Babs and Jim and I’ll come back tomorrow.” She said, already stepping out of the car when she saw Alfred shaking his head.

“You leave in your new car, Miss Kyle.”

“But it’s not officially mine yet, the money-“

“It’s fine.” He cut her, turning the day completely bananas with his following words. “I trust you.”

Now, if you didn’t have the time to listen to all of that, or if Selina couldn’t afford to waste saliva, she’d just say that she had her contacts.

You see, the thing about what Selina and Alfred became wasn’t much like friendship. Friendship was too much of a strong word, if you asked them. It wasn’t out of friendship that the butler let her go home with a Wayne car to call hers (in fact, she named the car Dan Nicky, a tribute to one of the bests Instagram posts of all time), nor it was why she sank in his analysis about the owl card she send to him, much less why she called that morning asking him if she could come over to the manor. Friendship couldn’t begin to describe it. She was friends with Bruce, and Ivy, and Macky. Even with Babs, although their relationship had changed a lot the past years. The thing about Selina and Alfred was that they _relied on_ each other, even though they didn’t always _trusted_ in one another.

There was a time when she’d never think that Alfred would say that about her. She herself wouldn’t see where she’d stand in a couple of years after first entering the Wayne Manor, going there to just talk to the butler, yet that was exactly what was happening.

When she arrived, he already was waiting in the front yard, looking all put together, like he always did.

“Miss Kyle?” he greeted as a question ever so alike he did when the lawn was filled with cars.

“Hi!” she greeted, getting out of the car and more excited than one would expect for someone who had spent the first hours of the day puking her guts out, whose sister was kidnapped and whose boyfriend had left to God knows where and never made direct contact.

“Is everything alright?” he asked and she could swear that he was worried. Maybe she really wasn’t reacting to how the day dictated her to react, but the sun was bright and there was this salty breeze from the ocean and even though, okay, the morning sickness _was_ a pain in the ass, things were looking good that week.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the girl answered, slowing down her energy and they fell silent, the butler waiting for her to say why she was there, and then “You know why I called?”

“No,” Alfred answered, although it was rhetorical.

“I was wondering,” she circled the car and stopped in front of him, leaning against the car. “Do you still have that contact that buys jewelry with a fair price?”

Alfred’s eyebrows went up. That probably was among the last things he expected her to ask. _Probably_ he didn’t even think that she remembered that he had those contacts, but he should know better – she was Selina Kyle after all, and if there was something she was good at, it was to know the right people for different jobs.

“You’re in the jewelry business, now, Miss Kyle?” he asked and Selina hummed.

“Do you want the detailed answer or just-“

The best thing about Alfred was that he knew things, people and subtleness. He had lived a lot and so did Selina, even though she was much younger. That’s why he was quick to cut her.

“Just-“ he started and she got it. That was how well they had come to know each other.

“No. The answer is no,” Selina said and waited – Alfred went quiet and she waited. And then “What are you gonna say?”

“Oh, I can say a lot of things,” he replied. “But what I’m going to say is, is it urgent?”

“Yes,” she answered, feeling the energy go up again. He was going to help, she knew it.

Alfred sighed.

“I’ll make some calls. Come on in.”

She followed him inside and waited in the study room. It was almost surprising to see that the manor still was the same without its master and to think about Bruce made her stomach drop. She missed him. She missed all the things that made her stable and normal and herself – her family, all patched up but whole, her cats, her Bruce -, but then again, one could never expect normal in Gotham.

It took Alfred just ten minutes to get through his contacts list and strike a meeting for Selina on that same week, two days from there, and hand her a paper with the address that was just outside of town where she’d make her barter. If he asked why she needed the money, it would be one of the rare occasions where she’d just tell him – that she was going on a trip to find Ivy and she didn’t know when she’d be back – but he didn’t ask. Instead, he said

“You look different.”

She smiled, although she could guess that he was talking about her wardrobe choice of the day instead of ‘something different inside her, in her posture or her eyes’ the way people like to romanticize these moments that are ever so significant when you’re about to step in the decisions you make.

“Different good?” he nodded. “Cool. I like different, even when it’s the bad type. I like the rush of change it implies,” she rambled, folding the paper and stuffing it into her jacket pocket.

“I heard you had a little bit of an adventure in the Hill last week,” the butler mentioned, as if it was nothing and _of course he knew_ , of course Jim wouldn’t miss the chance to tell everyone he trusted about her detective skills, it seemed that Barbara had gotten on to him with that ‘Selina could be a cop’ talk.

“Yeah, I’d call it more like a misadventure, actually.”

Alfred scoffed, as if dismissing it. She had no idea how much he knew, probably less than Jim knew, because she didn’t give him many details.

“Does this business have something to do with Miss Pepper too, now?”

There it was, why he didn’t ask. Because he guessed.

“It does,” the girl answered and for the first time that morning she actually felt sad.

“There’s no way we can convince you to stay, is there?” Alfred asked and Selina first looked up to him quite surprised by his reaction and then shook her head. He nodded, agreeing. “You kids, you are the same.”

He was talking about her and Bruce, she knew. He had said that so many times, but she never gave it too much thought. It turned out, she felt, that Alfred knew Bruce pretty well and by knowing him he got to know her. The idea of her and Bruce being the same was so absurd for Selina in many levels, but the butler said that with such conviction that each time she believed him a little more.

“You had news from him?” she asked, at the same time keeping and changing the subject and not letting them fall into awkward silence. The butler nodded.

“I did indeed. He asked me about you.”

“Well, he could’ve called _me_ ,” she pondered, because that was what Bruce said he would do: call her. Except that he didn’t. Alfred shook his head.

“Master B said that it’d be, in his words, tempting. But he also said he had something for you.”

“Really?!” the girl exclaimed, flattered by the idea that she was so important to Bruce that she could be a distraction for him too, but then she remembered why it was so good that he wasn’t around and she focused on what needed her focus.

“He told me to tell you to go to the El Gaucho and they will give you something, said that they will know what to do when they see you,” he continued, not even once pretending that the message didn’t confuse him. Selina nodded. “Does that make any sense?”

“It does,” she answered with a small smile. “Thank you, Alfred.”

“Selina?” Alfred called one more time when she mentioned to leave. It was always very rare for him to call her by her name only and the teen could never shake the tiny leap of joy it brought, because she was winning him. “Will I see you again before you leave on your trip?”

That wasn’t a question Selina was expecting from him and she had to think for a couple of seconds to mentally check her schedule.

“I don’t think so, no,” she admitted.

“Well then, Miss Kyle, I guess this is farewell.”

He said that with a certain finality that sounded weird in her ears. Everyone Selina told about the trip she was going to do reacted very differently, their tones always with a taste of ‘she’ll be back within the month’, but Alfred said it differently. He said it with the tone of someone that had said many goodbyes that could turn one way or the other. It was both scary and beautiful.

“I guess so.”

And wasn’t it kind of sad?

To complete the craziness of that morning, after that, Alfred did something that was bigger than when he let her stay in the manor with the hopes that her lie would be a truth, or when he let her have her T-Bird, or when he’d set an extra plate for her in the morning when they could swear he didn’t know she had spent the night: he saluted her.

It was so amazing that all she could do was salute him too.

 

Selina gained a pound. A whole pound that forced her to put aside half of her skinny jeans and that was a day for skinny jeans, so there was her outfit choice that caught Alfred’s attention: one of Ivy’s ripped jeans, low boots, a black tank top and her hair on a ponytail. And since she already screwed her work day at the gallery by going to the manor, she just headed straight to El Gaucho to see what was it that Bruce had for her.

She also had used that morning to clean her safe at the gallery and planned to head to Penguin’s to clear her account there too, sell all she could sell to Alfred’s contact and stash all the money in secret compartments she had set up with Ivy when she first bought the T-Bird before leaving the town.

Everything was getting so real now that she was actually going – to find Ivy and to find Fish (although she didn’t tell her family about that last part) – and the expectation was both exciting and nerve wrecking. She reviewed every single step to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything, multi-checked the program Lucius installed in her computer and phone, ran tests, revised all the information she had gotten and felt prepared, yet anxious. For one side, she was so ready to go already, but on the other hand, the possibilities of something going wrong were absurdly high.

When she arrived at the El Gaucho, she was greeted with warm smiles and called by her name, even though she looked very different from the little Kardashian that went there with Bruce. Since the restaurant was new, they wanted all the recognition they could have, so one of the things they did was take photos of the famous/influent people that frequented it.

Now, Selina wasn’t famous, although she did appear on a teen magazine or two (against her will), but she went there with The Bruce Wayne and they spent two or three hours there eating, chatting, dancing to some tango and taking multiple photos with the staff.

It wasn’t hard to find on the walls the photo of her and Bruce, a pretty one of the two of them watching the churrasco process used to prepare the meat. She didn’t even know that they were taking photos of that moment, but it was alright, she didn’t mind.

“Bruce told me you guys had something for me?” she asked at the reception and one of the girls nodded.

The hostess led her to an office then, where there was a tall woman waiting behind a desk looking important and busy, but who smiled once the girl sat in front of her.

“Miss Kyle, I was wondering when you’d come.” The woman said with an interesting accent.

“I just got the message. What is it about?” no small talk when curious, that was her motto. The lady seemed okay with it.

“When you and Mr. Wayne came here, we had a lot of material, because he asked us to keep on photographing you, did you know that?” Selina, with risen eyebrows, shook her head no. The lady then opened a drawer and put on the table a thick envelope right in front of the girl. “He came here the following day and talked to me, left this. Well, not exactly _this_ , but the note inside it. He asked us to print the photos and give it to you with the note.”

Photos. She took the envelope and opened it, immediately going through the pics. There were funny ones and serious pictures and even some that could be considered romantic. It was a romantic act, really, to set that up for her even being far away. Quite cute.

“Thank you.” The girl said, looking up at the lady. “He didn’t need to do that.”

“He didn’t, that’s true.” She said, resting her chin in her hand. “But young love is such a beautiful thing to watch, we couldn’t say no. It’s the least we could do, after all he’s done for us.”

Selina tried not to cringe at how the lady said ‘young love’ and focus on the other things she said.

“What do you mean?”

The woman sat a bit straighter and Selina could see now, in her uniform, that her name was Ariana.

“Well, he gave a tip large enough to pay the college debt of the three college students that work for us _and_ the hospital bill of one of the hostess, so…”

At that, Selina smiled, her heart warmer after that piece of news. She wondered why Bruce didn’t tell her about it, but it was so typical of him to surprise people with small acts of kindness. Not that student loans and hospital bills were small for those people, but it was for him. Effortless, even.

“It was nothing,” Selina said and then- “but he’s pretty something, isn’t he?”

Ariana smiled.

“He’s a good kid. Not many people want to see that in him.”

Selina shrugged, knowing it was true and also knowing that it was all part of the plan. She went back to envelop and also found a memory card, that Ariana told her contained the digital version of the photos, and a note that she waited to be alone in her car to read it.

 

_We are good, don’t forget that.  I won’t. See you soon, Bruce._

 

Regret. That was the theme word of the trip from Gotham to Smallville every time Selina had to stop the car to puke or just stretch her legs. The fourteen hour drive turned into nineteen and by the time she finally arrived in the city, it was too late to want to do any search.

It was also the theme word on the second day, when she woke up sick and sore in her cheap motel room and all she could do the whole day was to sit by the toilet bowl and wait for the nausea to wear out. Only on the third day – a Sunday – Selina felt well enough to explore the city.

Superman’s childhood city, as its name suggested, was small and boring. She had breakfast, lunch _and_ dinner in the same diner that was also a souvenirs store and bore on its walls photos of all kinds of known and unknown faces, including the millionaire Lex Luthor in his youth years (not that he was old now, Lex was in his early 30s) with the same group of friends in all the photos she found of him. He caught her attention especially because LexCorp was the group that took in Dorrance when he was first rescued.

Selina didn’t have a photo of Fish to show around, but she had plenty of Ivy, so she started to ask people on that same Sunday already, as she looked for the exact site where Dorrance was found: It was a lonely piece of land with nothing special to it. Clearly, Selina didn’t know what to expect, but she sure expected _something_. Instead, the girl only found herself wandering and making random questions to small town people who liked to engage in long conversations.

It was, to say the least, disappointing.

She kept thinking about the long drive and the sickness and Ivy and wondering how the hell she would pull that off. Her start point sucked and with nowhere to go, what should she do?

On the fifth morning – a Tuesday – of being around, she called home via Skype. At that point, Selina had made the diner her second home, a place where she’d sit and go through the program and her evidences to try and be proactive. She put together a blog with basic info about V and her disappearance, made posters in the best Harleen style with the link of the blog and her phone number, hung it _everywhere_ and waited. She had decided to wait until the week was over and then move on to the next place, even if it was just a place her guts told her to go to.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Barbara asked on the video. She was feeding some mashed thing to Barbie, who looked bigger and smarter every time Selina called.

“I’m feeling better,” Selina replied with a small smile.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m really better, it’s not a lie!” she protested, but she was smiling. Little Barbie was making a mess.

“I told you to wait to make this trip, your immune system is crashed.”

“Mom, seriously,” The girl cut her. “Don’t worry about me, I’m so much better now, you’ve no idea. There’s this square here that is basic, but put together where I can run every morning and… the motel is not bad, even though their wi-fi is. Apparently, Smallville has the great amount of _three_ night clubs, look at that! They have more night clubs than restaurants.”

“It’s a dormitory city, Selly,” she heard Jim’s voice first, and then he showed up behind Babs. “There’s got to be _some_ fun for the students.”

“Oh, did you find some cute college guy already?” Barbara asked, suddenly excited. “Did you see Sam?”

Selina sighed, rolling her eyes and Jim frowned.

“Why are you trying to set her up with random men, she’s got a _boyfriend_!” he interrupted.

“Sam studies in another campus, Babs- wait!” she cut, looking straight at Jim. “Are you okay with _Bruce_ now? Now that he’s across the globe?”

“You put it very nicely, yes,” the tenant said, sitting beside Babs, his posture straight.

“You two are the worst,” she mumbled.

“Say whatever you want,” he continued. “But you can’t make babies when your boyfriend is cruising around.”

For a second or two, Selina lost focus, her hand automatically going to her belly where the bump was supposed to start to grow any moment. She had lost three pounds the past week, but her hips still were larger, the B-cup starting to hint that it could become a C. How come her body had changed so much in less than four months already?

She half heard Barbara joke about how square Jim was, but they stopped bickering when they saw her frown, completely misunderstanding it.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Babs said, her tone nice and sweet. “We know it must be frustrating to not get any news.”

“You were so confident when you left, Selina,” Jim said. “And you’re good at this, at figuring things out, I’m sure you’ll find just what you need.”

The teen shrugged.

“Would I be asking for too much if what I need to find is Ivy and I want to find her now?”

The couple smiled that smile that meant ‘ _yes’_ and she sighed again. It was almost noon and she was getting hungry.

“Where are you? This place is noisy.” Barbara asked.

“The diner,” Selina answered. “One out of the two restaurants of the city. The other is too fancy, I need to save money. Anyway, this one seems to be the favorite of everyone anyway, so it’s easier to ask people if they saw anything weird.”

“They’ve seen a lot of weird,” Barbara said and Selina adjusted the screen, because the light was coming in a bad angle now. “It’s Superman’s hometown.”

“You know, everyone says that, but is it right? Ain’t his hometown the whatever town he came from before being shipped to Earth?” Selina wondered gesturing, but she was cut by Jim before she could go too far.

“Hey, who’s that in that photo?” he asked, pointing somewhere above Selina’s head.

“Dude, there are _a lot_ of photos,” she replied and he pointed again.

“That one, three frames up right above you. The one with the red and blue frame.”

She looked back and up briefly. This time she wasn’t in one of the tables by the wall and she didn’t usually sit on that side of the diner (too bright), but she knew which frame Jim was talking about. Although she didn’t pay much attention to it, the familiar bald head was there and she quickly dismissed it. He was in quite a lot of photos around there, most of them with the same group of people from the first photo she had seen of him: Chloe, Clark, Lana.

“It’s Lex Luthor. They like him a lot in here.”

“No, the woman with him,” he specified and Selina looked again. “She looks… but it can’t be. I must have mistaken for someone else.”

The teen looked up.

“That’s quite high.”

“Yeah.”

“Good eyes. How could you make out the people?” she asked and Jim Gordon shrugged.

“I don’t know, must’ve been the light.”

“I’ll look closer,” she mentioned to stand on the chair, but he dismissed it.

“No, baby, don’t bother. It must be the cold case I was looking at that made me see things.”

He didn’t tell which case it was and they said nothing more about the photo, but when the waitress brought Selina’s lunch, the teen asked if she knew who was in the photo and the answer made her immediately stand up, drag a chair to the wall and climb up anyway, just to look closer.

“They come once a year for the past three years to celebrate something. I don’t know _what_ , but they _always_ come and the party is _always_ big,” the waitress told her.

Selina could have a stroke, so fast her heart was beating. She had no idea how it happened, not the slightest clue of how they got there, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that she had found one of the answers she had been looking for for so long.

There, smiling with Lex Luthor, by his right side, was none less than Maria Mercedes Fish Mooney.

 

Now that Selina realized that Fish had been there, in Smallville, more than once, that she was alive and influent yet anonymous, it was as if a curtain had been removed and she finally could see that the city was watching her. The feeling wasn’t strange, for Gotham had the same eerie characteristic and she knew how to handle it, but it was always kind of funny – and not in a good way, like something Jerome would find funny. She was more aware of people observing her as she put up posters in stores and poles, that strange girl from Gotham City making questions they didn’t know how to answer (or, now that she thought about it, didn’t want to).

On the following Thursday morning, she was at the diner again and went to the toilet, leaving her things on the table, her journal open and filled with notes about the three clubs the city had, because if there was something she knew about Fish Mooney was that the woman knew how to run a club and perhaps she had started to rebuild her empire through her strongest point.

When she came back from the toilet, her things were in the exact same place and same way she left, but there was a word highlighted in blue that wasn’t highlighted before. Damn, she didn’t even _have_ a blue highlighter to begin with! Slowly, she picked up the journal and sat down.

The word highlighted was Tarshish, the name of one of the night clubs of Smallville, and although no one in the diner gave sign of being the person that looked through her things, Selina knew better. She had been one of Fish’s little birds once, after all, and the first thing you got to know is to blend in. Someone there worked for the Pond.

Just because every single detail was important, she threw “Tarshish” on Lucius super search browser and she did find Tarshish the night club, but she also found a bible passage from Jonah that she started to read out of curiosity, because she always found it interesting when mundane things were biblical references, and no doubt it was interesting.

Tarshish was the city to where Jonah went to instead of following command to go to Nineveh; he was sailing there when there was a huge storm and the only way of making the storm end was to throw Jonah in the sea. It was on the sea to Tarshish that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.

The Tarshish club had its opening the previous year under the administration of a woman not very older than Selina herself whose last name was Kelly. Now, that could be another coincidence, but how many coincidences were needed for one to start to suspect of something? At least she had a club to start now.

The cycle of universities parties started on Thursday, like in Gotham, and even though the regular classes wouldn’t start in another month and a half, the summer program was running strong, so Selina picked her best outfits from her suitcase already willing to extend her stay if needed, and got ready for the college night of Ohio.

So off she went on a Thursday night in crop top and high waisted jeans, her hair falling in curls on her shoulders, ready to mix with a bunch of college students looking for another coincidence to put her in the right direction.

“I.D.” the security at the door demanded, stopping her short and she looked up confused. Even in her stilettos Selina still was shorter than many people.

“Really?” the girl asked, genuinely surprised. She had never, ever had problems to get into Gotham U’s parties (maybe because usually Macky was the head of security, but still) and to be stopped was new. The security didn’t even flinch.

“Really.”

Her mind worked a mile per hour in a second to come up with something, but she was saved by the last person she’d expected.

“Selina?” a familiar male voice said from inside the club and the girl turned to him surprised.

“Sam!”

In his defense, it took him only a couple of seconds to understand that she needed a little help and to jump to rescue her. Good thing he was a good actor.

“You’ve made it!” he said, coming to hug her. He dismissed the guard with a couple of words and a friendly tap on the shoulder and had her inside in less than a minute. “How come-“ he started, then changed his line of thought, stopping before they hit the loudest part of the dance floor, his drink unstable in his hand. “I never thought, how are you? Jesus, you look _great_. Holy shit, it’s been a while.”

Selina laughed, really amused. It really had been a while – a little over a year – since she last saw Sam Bradley. He was deep in the summer school program.

“I’m alright. I thought you were in Metropolis,” she said and he shrugged.

“Not during the summer program.”

She nodded understanding. Ivy had told her about all the types of college means in the hopes that maybe Selina would find interest in going back to school (no need to say that it didn’t work very well, but at least now Selina knew what happened in the university life).

“That explains. Are you working here?” she asked meaning the club.

“No, it’s just for the night. My academic center pulled this party off to kick off the new season. How did you end up here?”

There was no short answer for that question.

“It’s a long story,” she diverted as they headed to the bar. “But to sum it up, I left Gotham and ended up in this shithole.”

Sam laughed, even though it wasn’t very funny, just true. Maybe he already was a little tipsy, that blue drink he was holding looked intense.

“Why would you leave Gotham? Aren’t you intrinsically connected to it, or something?”

Selina smiled, turning to the bartender and flashing her best smile in the hopes of getting his attention and a drink. It was cute that Sam’d remember things she said long ago, things that he, as a guy, wasn’t supposed to remember.

“Maybe. But the quality of the air was fucking with my lungs,” she said, side-eyeing him to see if he’d believe her. He clearly didn’t, but also said nothing about it.

“The air really is better in the countryside.”

“Yeah, but the people suck. This place is boring.”

He got closer, daring to touch his arm in hers. He was one of the few people that could do that.

“You’re such a big city girl; don’t be so hard on Smallville, it’s charming here. Why so mean?”

She didn’t answer him right away, for the bartender put the drink in front of her – a red liquid with a cherry and all rested upon a coaster of the same color. The first thing she noticed was that no one else’s coaster was red, even when the person had a red drink like hers. All of the coasters were blue. She popped the cherry in her mouth to taste the drink that was strong and sweet, rolling nice on the tongue, and as she took a sip, the constant change of the lights made her notice something on the coaster.

Usually, those things were propaganda of booze companies or the club itself, but that one was personalized, Selina realized, by the outline of a fish as if in neon lights while the blue coasters had the outline of a wave also in neon lights, but that wasn’t all.

Selina took the coaster and lifted it, waiting for the light that caught her attention in the first place and there it was, another symbol that she couldn’t quite place where she knew from, an upper case P with an ellipse that, she guessed, was supposed to resemble an atom. Sam got a new drink and just to make sure she checked if his coaster had the same symbol. It didn’t.

With a small smile, Selina held on to that coaster, keeping it to herself.

“Because I’m a frustrated motherfucker, that’s why,” she finally answered, still looking at her secret symbol and Sam chuckled.

“I’ve missed you, Sel.”

 

Sam Bradley went to the motel with her that night. They relived their best moments and made a couple more to keep in the memory. In her best _I’m-just-being-a-good-sis_ days, Ivy would question Selina what the fuck she was waiting for to dump Bruce and be with Sam forever. In her best _Fuck-the-men_ days, Ivy’d just let Selina fuck whoever she wanted and nod in approval.

Later, she took the coaster from her purse along with her UV flashlight to take a closer look at the symbol again.

“I’ve never noticed this,” Sam commented, probably seeing the symbol for the first time. He was lying by her side on the bed watching her analyze the circle. “How come you have that flashlight?”

“My dad is a cop,” she answered and he scoffed.

“So is mine,” he said and she looked at him.

“I’m adopted.”

He nodded, as if it answered everything.

“Comes with advantages,” they said at the same time and laughed.

She flashed the light on the coaster again, making the symbol appear over the shiny fish.

“Do you know what this is?” the girl asked frowning. It still was really hard to put that piece together, as if she had only ever seen that briefly once in her life.

“Hell yeah, Tommy has been trying to get an internship there for most of the year.”

“Tommy? Tommy Elliott?” she questioned, confused. “Internship? Isn’t he like, thirteen? Or is this some kind of contest because Bruce graduated early?” there were a million questions she could make, but before she went too far, she moved to what really mattered. “Internship _where_?”

“Palmer Technologies. It’s a huge technology company and the base is in Star City, it’s pretty awesome.”

“Starling?” Selina asked and Sam nodded. Two years already and it still was a struggle to remember that the city’s name had changed. “Have you been there?”

“I have,” he told her and she decided to hang on to every word he had to say about the place. “It’s got everything the company of a billionaire has to have, a little like Wayne Enterprises.”

“Lemme guess-“ she joked. “lots of glass.”

He laughed.

“You guess right, Sel. You guess just right. That and the best professionals of the market. They have one of the most sophisticated security system of the _planet_.”

Okay, that was interesting, but breaking security was one of Selina’s favorite hobbies, so all she needed to know was where to break and why. The way she could figure out things was so natural that it wasn’t even impressive anymore.

When Sam fell asleep, Selina searched on her phone everything about Palmer Technologies, stumbling over a few known names that made her raise an eyebrow or two, her mind already forming a plan. She gathered enough information to have where to start and then gathered her things. It was good that she kept most of her stuff in her car, carrying around only the essential and in forty minutes she had showered, packed and closed the bill.

When Samuel Bradley woke up in the middle of the morning, all he found was a note, a smile and a few new memories to hold on to until next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The blog that Selina mentions exists and you can find it on haveyouseenivy.tumblr.com  
> Tell me what you'd like to see in the blog. And can you please leave a comment? Thanks for reading!


	6. AN ACTION CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I took forever, I'm sorry! :( BUT, to compensate, the chapter is twice as long.
> 
> Thank you for waiting and reading, I hope you remember to review at the end of the chapter, because review is love. #s2 Plus, I added a character whose name starts with a K... if you get who he is, leave a HELLS YEAH in your review! hehe
> 
> Once again, thank you for staying and I hope you like the chapter! x

Last time Ivy felt so angry, so powerless, was so long ago that she could barely remember it, as if her father’s death pulled a cargo from her chest and she could finally breathe. It wasn’t as if she was okay with her little broken family being destroyed, but to be released from a toxic environment was renewing.

She was in somewhere toxic again. Not only because there were people trying to harm her, but because she could _feel_ the toxicity of the things happening to her almost to a chemical spectrum and there was no explanation for that, she only _knew_ it was happening.

Could she count her awakenings in months already? She knew the numbers and she could tell that she was spending more time awake lately (two meals without closing her eyes between them for the past ten counts) and maybe it was giving her a better notion of time.

However long it was, Ivy was sure that months had passed. Not that many, but certainly a few. Her baby sister was born already, no doubt. She wondered how Babs was hanging on and hoped that Jim and Selina were helping her. The school year was over too, and she didn’t even take her finals -  not that she missed it, she would never be willing to dedicate her time for calc II -, but it _was_ a shame to have to delay her degree.

Finally, Ivy wished for Harleen’s drug – the drug she helped develop -, wished for it to take away the fog in her mind and maybe, just maybe, she would see clearly at last in a very long time.

Those days were the most helpless Ivy had ever felt and her thoughts always drifted to Babs-after-breakdown, as if everything was connected, how she looked both lost and found at the same time. There was a certain wildness in Barbara that wasn’t there before, a wideness that reflected a broken notion of joy that was hard to fix. (but they did it together – her, Selina and Jim) Anyhow, Ivy was fascinated about it. Happiness was such a _strange_ concept in the mind of the mad.

She wondered if the same thing was happening to her and smiled. What a great fucking piece of irony it would be.

 

It was morning when Ivy woke up with no restrainers, no needles, singing birds outside her graded windows of a new room, breakfast and company. A friendly face for once that made her almost think she had been rescued.

“The tables changed, it seems,” Ivy said with a raspy voice, a little bit of a joke. The guy sitting by her bed looked up at her all surprised, big blue eyes taking their time to realize that she was talking to him.

“Pamela!” he stood up with a jump and quickly put on a glass of water for her, handed it to her with cold fingers. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”

She was midway with her glass of water and frowned, for she didn’t know why he felt the need to apologize.

“I don’t get you, Jonny, you know that, right?”

He stepped closer. Harleen’s pal from psychology classes always stroked Ivy as a crazy-eyed scarred kid, but that probably was because she had seen him at his craziest and scariest attached to a hospital bed after his father made some experience with him. Was there one kid in Gotham that wasn’t broken?

Jonathan Crane. Fully recovered, although orphan, his poster child history landed his ass at Gotham U. In her opinion, it was kind of messed up that he was studying psychology, but Ivy herself was a botanic genius and Selina was an awesome art guru, so you can never guess what’s someone’s vocation.

It was that Jonny crazy eyed but sort of normal that got closer to her face, almost tearing up, making her cringe a bit.

“I shouldn’t have told him,” he whispered and it suddenly made sense why he was there: because he was somehow involved in her kidnapping.

“Jonathan,” Ivy hushed, almost a warning. It was just his name, but it demanded an explanation that he was quick to give.

“She gave me the drug – Harleen. Told me you had cooked it and I thought it was _brilliant_ , Pammy, brilliant. That’s why I told him. I never thought…”

“Why did Harleen give it to you?” she asked, but thought better and changed her question. “How is she?”

Jonathan swallowed and looked down ashamed.

“Of course I’m not allowed to tell her that I know where you are, which is killing me. But she misses you.”

“Does she k-,” she started, but he quickly shook his head. Good. Ivy sat up noticing that she had only enough strength to do little things, and her body was sore in weird points. How long had she only been from bed to bed, allowed to walk to the toilet and the shower and nothing more? Most of those times were only foggy half-remembered dreams. “You need to get me out of here, Jonny.”

He then furiously shook his head.

“I can’t, don’t you think I tried?”

She held his hands, locked her eyes in his. Ivy knew well that she could look just as crazy eyed and scary than him, but now she had to plead for emotion.

“Please,” she begged, feeling her eyes water even though she had given up on crying a long time ago. “Please, I think they will kill me.”

Still, he shook his head.

“There’s no reasoning with them, Pam. They made it clear that if I try anything, we are both dead.”

Well, that wasn’t very helpful, she knew. But she also knew Jonny, knew that he was kind-hearted, that Gotham had tried its best, but still hadn’t hardened him, so if she had ever had a chance of _anything_ – getting out or causing a distraction or putting a bullet in Woodrue’s skull – he was that chance. Maybe.

She needed him on her side and if he already felt guilty, maybe she was halfway there.

“What does that mean?” Ivy asked, sitting straight and moving aside the sheet that covered her legs. She was wearing cotton shorts and a white tank top that would not be enough in a very short time, if she was locked up for longer.

“It means that they are insane, Pam,” Jonathan replied, his blue eyes huge with fear.

Now, Ivy knew that it wasn’t hard to trigger fear in Jonathan Crane, but that was a different circumstance. She needed him to use this fear to trigger other emotions that would help them both.

“Jonny,” she said low, getting closer to him as he sat down her bed. “Did they catch you too?”

Nervously, he shook his head no, but something in his posture demonstrated uneasiness, as if there were more to the story.

“Well, they are trying to make it look like I’m part of them, but I’m really not, ain’t I? The moment I tell anyone where to find you, I’m a dead man. I have to watch them looking for you but I’m unable to anything about it. I’m locked up, but I can leave.”

“They are looking for me?” Ivy asked, her hopes raising up one more time. “Who?”

“Your family. The cop and the Cat and Harleen. I saw them at the gardens the other day and they were telling the baby about how that was your favorite place.”

Ivy smiled, a true smile this time, with home in it, and her vision blurred with tears. Her little sister, they were talking to her about her and the things she liked and damn, home was so close!

“How is she? The baby, do you know her name?” she asked, blinking the tears away and when she could see Jonathan clearly he was frowning; before she could realize, he was reaching for her face and whipping off one of her tears.

Ivy’s first instinct was to pull away or snap his wrist, because there was a _thing_ about men that she couldn’t pass through (fuck you, dad), but she needed Jonny, so the hand that she raised to push his, ended up holding his.

“She’s tiny,” he finally answered. “I didn’t get very close, but I could see that she didn’t have much hair. I don’t think I understood her name, but she’s smiley and cute,” he told her, his voice calming. “You see how this is fucked up, Pammy? At first, they only caught Does, but they got greed, they took _you_. And the people who love you, they won’t forget. They won’t give up. And if Woodrue doesn’t get the results he wants, there’s no way you’re getting out of here alive.”

That was all very alarming and a lot of info that Ivy decided to put her mind into later, because at that moment, all she could think off was Babs and the baby and Selina. Oh, Babs, with her brokenness, her heaviness, her issues that the girl somehow managed to be part of, to help ease; Selina, who was her biggest partner, her best friend; and the baby, dammit, she really wanted to see the baby and protect her and be there for her – for all of them. Instead, she was somewhere else, locked up and used.

Who had a fucked up life now?

“It’s not fair,” the girl said looking down, her voice low. It was good that Jonathan was so close, because she didn’t want to say it again.

A pair of tears fell in her crossed legs. It was a long time since Ivy had seen herself in the mirror, and she knew that her hair was longer, messier than it used to be even when she lived in the streets after those days, before these other days.

“I know, Pam,” Jonny said, his hand still in hers. “I’m sorry.”

Ivy Pepper never let herself cry, but those weeks in confinement were breaking her, consuming her. Her walls weren’t strong enough, the more she tried to rebuild them. The things that were happening to her were beyond everything she could imagine: of mean, heartless world, and she was from _Gotham_. She had seen mean and heartless. Jonathan was right, everything there was fucked up and she wanted to _go home_.

With a tight chest, Ivy let out a hiccup and maybe a little cry, because the next thing that happened was that Jonny – broken, lovely Jonny – hugged her and she hugged him back, hiding her face on his chest and letting out that cry.

“I’m so sorry, Pamela,” he kept saying, caressing her tangled hair. “I really am sorry.”

Ivy Pepper had held on to time her whole life: the seconds that ticked as she waited with a mocking smile to see Selina bite one of her hints about her bad taste for men, the minutes that counted down for her so deserved class break, the hours that took for meeting Harleen in the halls at the end of the day and spend the evening in her apartment with no worries about getting home late, not even her girlfriend’s terrible cooking skills breaking the magic of being together. She did count the time in amazing moments too, but they still needed to come a little bit closer for her to grasp them. At that moment – that short, brief, everlasting moment - Ivy could feel her inside heating up with something beautiful and nice. She could see how Barbara was able to move on and it was so bright she could barely keep her eyes open.

Ever since she was knocked down, drugged, dragged, Ivy couldn’t figure out the measures of time. There was a certain despair of how it stretched and tangled making everything look amorphous, but there was a way out and things were looking up, she could feel it.

And it was all because of him.

Who would ever think that a boy could give Ivy Pepper new hope?

Taking a deep breath, Ivy pushed back just a little, allowing some space between her and Jonny.

“I believe you,” she told him, although she still wasn’t sure she did it completely.

Jonathan took a deep breath, his hand pushing away the hair that was falling on her face. She was sure she looked like a mess.

“Pam-“ he began, but she rested two fingers on his lips.

“Shh, say no more,” she asked him and then kissed his cheek. “Thank you for coming. I’m glad to have a friend now.”

It looked like he would apologize again, but he closed his mouth just in time. Instead, he looked at his hand frowning.

“What the hell,” the boy whispered, looking closer and so did Ivy, their foreheads were practically touching.

It was his right hand, the one he used to whip the tear from Ivy’s cheek. There was a burn on the inside and back of his hand, as if he had touched some sort of hot string: superficial and red.

“Looks like nettle burn…” Ivy commented intrigued. “Didn’t you notice?”

“No,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. “It didn’t even sting.”

“Nettle doesn’t usually sting, it makes sense.”

But as they wondered, the scar already looked like it was getting better, less reddish. They heard a beeping sound and the boy moved uncomfortably.

“That’s my cue,” he said apologetically, getting up and Ivy held his hand again, made him stop midway and look at her.

“Would you come again?” she asked, being as polite as she’d never been. “Bring me news about my family? Harleen?”

Jonathan smiled and then nodded.

“I hope so,” he said and she let him go. “I’ll try harder for you, Pammy.”

“A hairbrush and longer showers would be nice,” she suggested just before he crossed the door and saw him smile. If he managed to get her a few things, maybe she could even kiss him for real. And if she looked better, maybe she could get more and faster from him – with him. She didn’t have those curves for nothing after all.

 

Ivy Pepper was a late bloomer. They all knew it, but they also knew that she was tiny and mean and it was better not to bother her. When she went back to school at the age of 13, she was the only flat-chested girl in ninth grade, but when the queen bee of class tried to point it out, the girl ended up with a broken finger.

When she turned fourteen, puberty hit Ivy hard and fast and on the course of two months she grew out of her clothes, got taller than Selina and Barbara, gained curves and an impressive pair of breasts, consequently attracting more looks from males than she was used to – and that made the girl extremely uncomfortable.

It was the last week of school when Ivy felt done with all the looks and stares, after, as she ate her green apple during her lunch break, she decided to ask the 11 grade guys –

“What the fuck you looking at?”

Which made them laugh and comment things like “Uh, she bites” and “she could bite _me_ ”, that made her frown with confusion and worry, all of this sounding too familiar to her taste. When she got up to go back to class, four of those guys corned her, all talking at the same time things that she didn’t understand, because they were men and they were four and they were blocking her way.

“You got hot, Pamela, when did it happen?”

“My parents are out of town, maybe we could have some _fun_.”

“The five of us, huh? Some group fun.”

Ivy refused to lower her head, but she was sure that her eyes betrayed her, showed the fear she was feeling. They couldn’t do anything, could they? They were at school.

“Out of my way,” she pushed, but one of the guys held her arm. The following five seconds were blank and when she came back to her body, one of the guys was on the floor moaning in pain – probably the one who held her – and she was pointing a knife to the guy that looked like their leader. “Let me through,” she said, this time her voice was firm.

They let her and once she was safe in class, she texted Barbara to go get her after school.

As soon as she got home (she didn’t give many details to Barbara of why she insisted on that ride, even though everyone knew how against she was of the “elite way of coming and going”), she looked for Selina and found the older girl in the bathtub relaxing.

“Uh, _excuse me_?” Selina asked, opening only one eye to see who was daring to enter.

“Did you just get in there?” the redhead asked, noticing the foam all around the bathroom, and the other girl frowned.

“Maybe.”

“Well, move over, then,” she said, starting to take off her clothes and Selina opened both eyes, sat straight.

“What? No!” she protested. “Do you have any idea of the complexity of combining the bath salts to make these perfectly balanced white bubbles? Ivy, fuck off, I didn’t calculate the volume of water for two people. This is not a vegan bath!” she was just throwing around arguments to make Ivy stop, but it wasn’t working.

“That’s not even a thing!” Ivy shot back, one leg already inside the tub. “Come on, I need to talk to you!”

“Fine!” she finally gave in, leaving enough space for Ivy to sit, both girls with their knees on their chest.

Too late and slowly, Ivy knotted her hair in a bun, the points already wet, and Selina watched her.

“What happened?” she asked, but the younger girl didn’t answer it right away.

“I’m gonna ask you something,” the younger girl said and Selina nodded soberly. “Are you a virgin, Sel?”

Selina frowned.

“Where did that come from?”

“It’s a yes or no question,” Ivy replied and waited, same way the other girl waited for an explanation that didn’t come.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to have sex?”

“You said it was one question,” Selina pointed.

“I said I needed to talk.”

“Will you answer _my_ question?” Ivy was silent and then she nodded, so Selina continued. “Well, yes, I do.”

“Why haven’t you yet, then? You’re pretty, guys must want you.”

Selina looked away, thinking, although she already had an answer ready.

“I don’t think anyone passed me enough trust to go for it.”

“I see,” the redhead said and they fell silent, barely looking at each other, both girls thinking and then “At school today, four Juniors tried to corner me,” she said, finally answering Selina’s question. “They said things…”

Ivy blinked and looked up at Selina, who was watching her, and she felt her cheeks wet.

“I don’t think I like the attention,” she admitted and Selina nodded.

“You see how I felt when Babs started to talk about using my appearance?” the older teen said, her voice calm, almost sweet. “But she was right, we do have it, don’t we? You were a cute kid, but you got beautiful and _so fast_. It’s gotta be confusing.”

“I like the changes, though,” Ivy shrugged. “I liked to buy new clothes and finally get to wear a bra…”

Selina chuckled.

“I didn’t like it at all, especially the periods,” Ivy moaned. “You’ll get used to it, but it doesn’t get less sucky. Man, how I hated it – the puberty. I tried to hide it as much as I could and it took a while, but I got it – how this… _beauty_ had possibilities.”

She said “beauty” as if it wasn’t really a blessing, but some sort of curse one had to learn how to handle.

“See, that’s the thing, isn’t it?” Ivy cut raising her voice a little, but she was quick to slow down. “I mean, we have it and we may not like it – the beauty and the attention -, but we also want things and maybe we can take these things our way.”

Selina stared at Ivy the whole time, her face a mask.

“I’ve no fucking clue what you’re saying.”

Ivy opened her mouth a couple of times and closed it again, thinking faster than she was able to put in words and sighed.

“V, what happened?” Selina asked one more time and with that question Ivy found her start point.

“I like my body, always did. I like how it’s fluid and how it changes and how personal it feels. My body is the one thing I’m a hundred percent sure I can protect. But I don’t like men. I don’t like how they looked at me when I was little as if I wasn’t smart enough to understand and how they look at me now as if I’m a thing. I don’t like how they act like they could take me and make me theirs. I’m my own person and I fear that men can try and put me in a box for their own liking. I don’t fit in boxes, Sel.”

Selina knew that feeling. She herself felt too big for this world, but she said nothing, waiting for Ivy to get to her main point, to the reason why she insisted on getting in that tub in the first place.

“I don’t want to walk the streets of Gotham under the pressure that someone, clinically insane or not, may try to get me to do what they want without my consent and I know that’s what Jim is trying to avoid by teaching us all of those self-defense skills, but this is real, Sel. At school, there are people looking at me like I’m some sort of prey and _there are_ ways of hunting me. Tell me you never felt that way.”

The older girl shrugged. The water was beginning to cool down.

“I’d be lying if I did,” she answered, because it was true. More than once, Selina had felt uncomfortable with the looks she got, or knew some guy was following her, but she was always good at finding an escape route, at disappearing. One thought always crept in the back of her mind, though – about what would happen the day she wouldn’t be able to find it. “What are you trying to suggest?”

Ivy rubbed her own skin, spreading the bubbles on her arms.

“That we become the hunters. I don’t want to be a victim of trauma, you know? How women are subject to men’s will by force and forever left to deal with it? This is _my_ body, I want to lose my virginity because I chose to, not because someone took it from me. I’ve seen what angry, possessive men can do and I don’t accept it. I want to own my changes.”

That was a beautiful ideal, if you asked the teens what they thought about it. There was something beautifully sad about how Ivy’s experience with her father made her so mature and thickened her skin, but didn’t it also traumatize her already? Wasn’t she hard on people, almost unable to trust anyone, brave yet scared of the real world? Didn’t her words make it clear?

After a minute of silence, Selina reached her hand to Ivy in the universal gesture of “come here” and the redhead turned around. Barbara nice up bring made it for a nice house and the tub was fairly big for two teenage girls to share. The older girl unknotted the bun of Ivy’s hair and it fell heavily on the water, going down her waist in tangled locks. She slowly watered the long red hair of the younger girl, trying to untangle it with her fingers.

“You need to cut your hair, you know?” Selina commented, already ready for Ivy’s sharp answers, but what she got was a little chuckle.

“You’re such a weird cat.”

It was so rare to have Ivy cracking a joke that Selina smiled surprised and tickled the girl pinching her waist.

“Shut up!” she said and they both laughed. “Open the drain and let half of the water go, this is getting cold. I’ll open the hot water again. And get me the conditioner, will you?”

Ivy did what Selina asked and they were in silence as Selina worked on the long red hair of the younger teen, the tub getting warm again. It was Ivy herself who broke the silence one more time.

“Maybe we should try to set to lose our virginity.”

“Should?” Selina wondered, her fingers now running easily through V’s hair.

“Could,” she corrected and Selina hummed. There it was, the real reason why Ivy started that conversation. She had a plan and she continued talking. “Like… we could find someone we like enough to have the minimal amount of trust to let them in. You know how men are dumb, we can lure them to do what _we_ want, make them think it was all their idea and charm and whatever it is they think make them _special_ and they will forever believe it was them when it was us all along.”

“True enough. Sounds like a good plan, but where would we find them?”

“Definitely not in any party at the Narrows,” Ivy said thoughtfully. “It’s harder for me, I guess. You have Bruce Wayne.”

Selina shook her head even though Ivy still had her back turned to her.

“Bruce and Silver are back together.”

“ _What_?” Ivy turned abruptly, clearly shocked. Why wouldn’t she be? Silver had a much troubled story than she and Selina together. “When the fuck did it happen? I mean, it was literally a couple of months ago that we had to witness your PDA on the balcony.”

Selina rolled her eyes knowing all the shit she had gotten after that birthday and dismissed Ivy with a hand gesture. After that day, she and Bruce had had a short life because, well, that 15th year was a bit hectic for her. Turned out that they still were in two very different pages – a discussion they had every other day – and the transition back to Barbara’s (even Barbara’s transition itself) conflicted with her streets background, it still was confusing for them. Bruce had secrets he didn’t want to share same way she had secrets too personal to let him in and at last they found themselves in an impasse. Plus, Silver was trying her best to win him back and Selina found out pretty soon that she had zero to none patience to fight because of men. She much rather fight for herself.

So yes, no more Bruce in her life.

“It was _February_ ,” she corrected. “not a couple of months ago.”

“Who is this Silver anyway?” Ivy commented. It was rhetorical, but Selina answered anyway.

“How come you didn’t meet Tabitha’s niece yet?”

Ivy thought for a second.

“I might have seen her in some tabloid, but I’ve never seen her live. You know Babs takes _you_ to the friendly get togethers, I go to the intellectual meetings.”

That happened because Ivy was a certified genius. She didn’t even complain about not going to the social parties, because she really rather interact – in her words – with people who had interesting things to say. In other words, Ivy was much of a snob, but what only a very selected group of people knew was that the redhead had one major obsession after science: tabloids. She’d check every single paparazzi website whenever there was an event and she could even go as far as _buying_ magazines to know what had happened in the celebrity world and she’d complain about how people was dumbly wasting the world and how sad it made her.

Truth was that, even if it wasn’t to judge people, Ivy Pepper was a mainstream pop culture whore and if you couldn’t find the joke in it, you had some bad humor.

“The word ‘tabloid’ even _sounds_ wrong coming from you,” Selina joked and Ivy rolled her eyes. “But look, it’s no big deal, that I’m not with Bruce anymore – not that I’ve ever really _been_ with him – because I like your idea and it feels better to find someone new for this,” she wondered.

“You really think so?” Ivy wondered and Selina nodded.

“No attachments,” she said. “Just… find someone and go for it.”

“Yeah,” the younger agreed. “Exactly.”

There was almost no bubbles left on the water anymore, but the water still was warm. They inverted positions and this time Ivy was the one washing Selina’s hair.

“You know that country club Babs keeps insisting us to go?” Ivy asked and Selina nodded. “I went there once and there are a lot of guys our age and older playing tennis and polo. Bunch of paddies, but most of them are cute. Rich teenage boys are so dumb when it comes to girls, I’m sure we can select a couple of them worth the try.”

“You really thought it through, didn’t you?” the older teen mocked and Ivy said nothing for a couple of seconds.

“I actually just remembered the country club thing. But I admit that the other part was bugging me since lunch.”

 

For the rest of the week, the girls came up with plans and back up plans and arguments, and agreed not to kill anyone who didn’t understand the meaning of the word “no” (just knock him unconscious and scream). It was a warm May and Barbara got extra excited when they asked her if she had some spare bikinis, and even though the gallery wasn’t doing as well as it was supposed to do, she insisted on taking everyone shopping.

By Saturday, the first weekend of summer break, Jim dropped the girls in the country club before going to work and they put their plan in action.

“Can I sit with you?” Selina heard a boy ask and she looked at him through sunglasses. He was tall, green eyed, tanned skin, red-ish hair and large shoulders, but she didn’t find him exactly _cute_ , already knowing that he wouldn’t make it to her list. She looked around with her fork in mouth, saw a lot of empty tables and then looked at him again, who was quick to add, “It’s a bit embarrassing to sit alone.”

Oh boy, he already started it wrong.

“Embarrassing for… who?” she asked, slowly chewing the piece of orange from her fruits salad and they boy smiled.

“Me, actually,” hum. Better. She shrugged and he sat down next to her. He had a tray with burger, fries, a huge cup of red juice that could be strawberry or watermelon and Selina’s first thought was that Ivy would totally disagree with that meal. “I’m Tommy Elliot,” he introduced himself and the girl smiled, not taking his stretched hand.

“Selina Kyle.”

To be honest, even after all the planning she and Ivy had put their minds into doing, what was really bothering her was the gallery’s books, the feeling that there was something wrong with it, so Selina didn’t feel much interested in anything involving men. As Tommy tried to engage in conversations - meaning: talk about himself waiting for her to sound interested and have her asking questions that he was willing to answer – she only held her bowl of salad and ate it with lazy mouthfuls while watching a bunch of teens and kids being loud in the pool.

“Kyle, you said?” Tommy went back to it, trying to catch her attention. “I don’t think I know any Kyles,” he commented and she said nothing. “Who are your parents? I never saw you at school.”

“Dude, you make _a lot_ of questions,” she said as a way of answer and instead of biting his untouched sandwich, he smiled in a way that she guessed was supposed to be charming, but didn’t quite work.

“I’m just intrigued. I’m pretty sure I’d remember _you_.”

Her eyebrows went immediately up with how corny that was and she made quite the effort to keep her mouth shut (something that Ivy would one hundred percent not do, the redhead had a way of putting guys in their places that was admirable) and looked away as he put one French fry in his mouth.

There was only one word she could think of – terrible – and as her eyes drifted away, she saw two guys chatting and laughing a few feet away. They looked a couple of years older than her; one of them was black with short, curly hair and clear eyes and the other was mostly with his back to them facing the pool, but he had olive skin and dark, straight hair in a bun, she could only partially see his profile when he turned to look at the other boy sometimes, so she didn’t have much to judge. The black guy was a cutie, though.

Just when she was going to look somewhere else, the black guy looked straight at her and there was _no way_ he knew she was staring, for she still had her sunglasses on, but he shot a glance at Tommy, who was still talking – this time about his family business in an attempt to make her talk about hers – and raised an eyebrow to her as if making a silent question that she weirdly enough understood and silently answered with a tiny smile and her own raise of eyebrow.

Tommy, then, went on about his parents’ accident a few years back and how Thomas Wayne helped save his mom, but not his dad and how Wayne was such a close friend to his dad that he was named after him and the only reason why she actually paid attention was because of the bitterness of his words, as if all of this was a great pain in his ass.

The fact that she was actually listening this time made her not even realize that the black guy had gotten closer and interrupted them by excitedly greet Tommy with all the hit-on-shoulder-strong-handshake-half-hug manly way of greeting their bros.

“Hey Sam,” Tommy replied half confused, half glad for seeing someone he knew.

“I thought you’d be in Mexico by now, man!” the guy, Sam, said and somehow she recollected that Tommy had mentioned about his friends going to Cancun first thing after classes were over, but he had to stay.

“I’m going in a few, because my mom is bitching about me getting a _job_ for a while.”

He said ‘ _job_ ’ as if it was a curse one was supposed to handle, but once again Selina decided to keep her mouth shut. She rested her empty bowl on the table and finished her orange juice with a couple of gulps ready to leave, but wasn’t quick enough to avoid their attention turning to her.

“Do you know Selina Kyle?” Tommy introduced her as Sam sat across from her and he reached his hand to greet her. She took his hand. “This is my friend Sam Bradley, he’s a Junior in my school. Well, Senior now, right?”

Tommy said all of that with such tone that was almost nauseating, but Selina practically didn’t noticed, because Sam Bradley up close was much more than a cutie. He was _hot_. He had beautiful brown skin and hazel eyes, was well built and with amazing white teeth. It was clear that he was athletic even with his torso hidden under his tee, and he obviously didn’t care about Tommy’s sharp comments. Instead, he looked at Selina intrigued, his hand holding hers a couple of seconds too long than a normal handshake.

“Right. Aren’t you the girl who was talking to Bruce Wayne by the pool?” he asked innocently, but the light in his eyes said something like ‘wait for it’.

“I did talk to Bruce earlier, indeed,” she replied, a bit of curiosity in her voice and he smiled, leaning on his chair’s back. “Do you know him?”

“Yea, he’s my science buddy. I wasn’t sure it was you, it was almost hard to recognize you dry.”

Against all her principles, Selina blushed.

“With all these clothes on?” the girl tried to ease the color in her cheeks by joking along and Sam laughed a loud, long, warm, body-shaking laugh that meant ‘ _yes_ ’.

As soon as they had arrived, she and Ivy had gone to the tennis court, because she always wanted to learn and understand that sport and within the hour she had completely associated it with ping-pong – which was one of her specialties back in the flea – and Selina was, differently than Ivy, having a lot of fun to the point that she sort of had to be expelled from the court because no one else in the beginners class could beat her.

“I guess I’m just that good,” she said as the teacher, under the pressure of the other students, ushered her to go get a drink and a half hour break to rest. To their joy, she didn’t come back. “Bye, bitches!” she exited, dropping her racket on the way out.

Just then she realized how sweaty she was, so she headed to the pool’s outside showers, stripped down her summer dress and let the cold water wash down the sweat from her skin. She had no idea she was making a scene until she opened her eyes and saw that the only people in and by the pool making noise were the children. Every single teenage, boy and girl (which weren’t that many, it was still morning), were looking at her and the only thought she had was ‘ _I’m not even that hot, can you guys chill?_ ’.

“Selina?” someone called her, then, and there was Bruce finding all of that funny by the look on his face. She closed the faucet and smiled.

“Hi, B.”

“I just saw Ivy. Never thought I’d see you here.”

“I could say the same,” she said, running her fingers through her hair to make the curls be the way she wanted them to stay. Bruce was shirtless and that was the first time she had seen him with less than 2 layers of clothes; he was gaining weight and muscles with all that training Alfred had him doing, but he wasn’t buffy, just athletic, and he looked sweaty too. “Don’t you have your own pool and track course and tennis court and river?”

“Yeah, but my fencing classes are here and I decided to do some Tai Chi too.”

She frowned.

“I’d like me some Tai Chi, I love _The Last Airbender_!”

Bruce laughed a silent, short, ticklish, reddening-cheeks laugh that meant ‘ _nerd_ ’, and it was the lightest thing ever, making her laugh too. He stepped closer and opened his arms to receive her hug not caring that she was wet same way she didn’t care he was sweaty. He was so tall now, she had to be on the tip of her toes.

“If you really want to come for the Tai Chi, it’s every Saturday at eight with all the older ladies and oriental people and stuff,” he said, after they stepped apart. “I could get you on the way and we can come together.”

She nodded.

“I’ll talk to Babs and let you know,” the girl replied already trying to reorganize her agenda, because she wasn’t lying, she really wanted to learn it. Rumor had it that it was calming and she was pretty sure Jim would approve her doing some ‘calming exercise’, as he liked to say. She’d have to rearrange her hours in the gallery, though. “But hey, how are things going? Where’s Silver?”

“Right here,” Silver bittersweet tone came from Selina’s right, making her turn slowly, focused on not showing any strong emotions, like the mad will she had of punching the blond in the face because of her syndrome of superiority. “Selina.”

“Silver.”

There was a pretty dense and uncomfortable silence as Selina reached for her dress and put it on without drying off, because it was too hot anyway, and Silver walked the couple of steps to stay by Bruce’s side, held his hand in an almost possessive way that could make the other girl roll her eyes in a normal day, but not that morning, when Selina was trying to be nice.

“Okay!” Cat cut the silence, really wishing to tell Silver to piss all over Bruce already if she was so worried about her territory but instead saying “I’m hungry. I discovered that I’m a tennis genius and extinguished all my energy, I gotta eat. Nice to see you, B.”

With no further words, she turned around and headed to the restaurant where she was then and not much later Tommy took the liberty to sit with her.

“You know, Bruce and I used to be friends,” the boy said and Selina glanced at Sam, who looked at her like ‘ _there it is_ ’. “Like real good friends, growing up together and all the bullshit, until the accident happened and Thomas saved my mom. Things have been weird ever since.”

She was dying to know why Tommy hated his parents so much, but she was afraid to be sucked into one of his monologues, so she kept quiet. Sam, on the other hand, started to fill the silence breaks with all kinds of questions, letting the boy go on about playing chess in the manor and silly boys’ fights about stupid reasons.

“I still don’t understand how you two came to this weird dynamic you have now.”

Tommy sighed with Sam’s commentary.

“You wouldn’t understand, Sam. All you need to know is that we used to be best bros and now we aren’t and that’s fine.”

Oh, it didn’t look fine from Selina’s angle.

“Doesn’t it make you sad, Tommy?” she asked again breaking her own rules, her voice with a mock edge that he didn’t seem to notice. “I mean, he literally never told me about you. Like ever. And I’m his best friend now.”

Thomas, who had a dreamy look focused in anything at all, turned and focused on Selina.

“Are you?” he asked in the weirdest way. “Looked like lover, though. Did you know he has a girlfriend?”

Selina smiled and so did Sam. He _had_ seen her talking to Bruce, then. Perhaps that was why Sam pushed the subject in the first place, perhaps he knew something that she didn’t – which was very possible, since he knew the boy for a while.

“Just friend. And his girlfriend hates me, but who gives a fuck? You look so… tense, though, about it. Your friendship with him, I mean, not his girlfriend. Do you miss it? I can describe a few things to you, if you want.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, slowly eating his already cold food. “Like what?”

Selina shrugged.

“Maybe start with something simple, like how it is to kiss him.”

She saw Sam clearly suck in a breath in an attempt not to laugh, failing miserably and transforming it in a cough access, and Tommy frowned, chewing a fry thoughtfully as if it was really an option to be considered and then he shook his head.

“Why would I even… no, thanks,” and then “You just said that you weren’t lovers.”

The girl smiled and raised an eyebrow.

“So… what?”

That went on for a while, Tommy wondering at things, Sam making strategical questions that’d lead the other boy to talk about Bruce, and Selina adding in with commentaries that implied some man crush that was going on until Tommy got a call from his mother, who was waiting in the lob for them to go home and Selina was left, finally, only with Sam.

“I’m guessing he’s always that way,” she said as soon as he left and Sam chuckled.

“Obsessed with Bruce Wayne?

“Completely gay for Bruce Wayne,” she corrected and this time it was inevitable: Sam laughed his full laugh again.

Sam Bradley had a laugh that grew in his chest and shook his shoulders, a smiled laugh with eyes closed and hands hitting surfaces – a knee, a table, his stomach – and it was adorable. He looked straight out of a toothpaste commercial.

“You know, me and my guys always joke about it. Yes, he’s always like that. His friends don’t care because they have their own males to obsess with, but anyone outside their circle notices and it sort of became a habit, to make them keep talking about their male crushes, because it’s so hilarious.”

Selina smiled, crossing her arms.

“You’re quite the bully, Sam Bradley.”

“Well, too bad they are such white boys.”

And this time, Selina was the one to laugh the carefree laugh that she only reserved for Ivy and Barbara and it was kind of embarrassing how he unlocked that drawer so fast and easily. Not even Bruce had access to it yet, she didn’t know exactly what happened there. It was that face of his, she supposed. The kind of face that made you wonder how could a seventeen years old be so beautiful.

“I think I like you,” she said and at that moment he paused, as if she had said some sort of magic word that blocked his brain for a few seconds, and then he defrosted.

“I can see many reasons to like you too, Selina.”

They talked. A lot. And while they chatted, she exchanged a few texts with Jim Gordon and Ivy, just to make sure she knew where the other girl was.

 **CAT** : _Progress?_

 **IVY** : _not really. Rich boys are such a disappointment._

 **IVY** : _You?_

 **CAT** : _Maybe. I’ll keep you posted._

 **CAT** : _Do you know Slam Bradley?_

 **JIM** : _I do. Good cop, has a kid about your age. Why?_

 **CAT** : _I just met his son._

 **CAT** : _Reliable?_

 **JIM** : _Yes._

It was almost three in the afternoon and after he had talked about his father’s detective work and Kory, the Canadian exchange student that was living with them (who happened to be the guy she saw him with earlier), and after she mentioned that she and her friend Ivy were sort of adopted by Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean, that Ivy was there in the club too and that she was helping with the family business, something that was proving to be more challenging than expected, he said

“You know, Kory and I were planning on spending the rest of the day playing videogames at home, but maybe we can do something else if you… and your friend want to come.”

Selina looked up at him with a smile. They were walking around the courts, to their left was the pool, to their right, the ramp that led to the main building.

“Well, isn’t it escalating quickly?” she commented and he bit his lip embarrassed. The girl continued. “I don’t know, how does this Kory deals with the environment?”

“What?” Sam exclaimed, clearly confused.

“The environment,” Selina said again. “You know? The three Rs, animals and plants, the veganazi bullshit and stuff?”

“Oh, God, don’t even tell me!” he said, probably a bit too loud. He got some shushing from the yoga people under the trees. With his voice down, he continued. “I mean, he’s _Canadian_. Almost drove my mom _mad_ with those three Rs thing and he cooks his own food… he’s _obsessed_ with the ocean and has the most absurd apnea I’ve ever seen. He says he wants to be an oceanographer and move to an island in the Caribbean or something. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as oceanology.”

At that point, Selina already was smiling, typing a text to Ivy. Did she accidentally find the perfect pair of guys for both her _and_ Ivy? It looked like, yes.

“Oh, God, I’m boring you,” he mumbled in a cute way. She had noticed that he was good at being charming and saying what she wanted to hear, but at that moment he seemed really worried to be ruining his chance. “You’re checking your phone, I’m totally boring you.”

In his defense, he looked so upset for supposedly failing her that she even fed that act a little bit more. It was ladies choice day anyway and he was so committed to her that she was willing to see where it’d go.

“I don’t know yet, Sam. Let’s find that Kory guy and Ivy before we jump into conclusions, what about that?”

Ivy who, meanwhile, was having a more weirder than exciting day.

The first thing she did too, when they arrived, was to go to the tennis court to learn the sport, but she got a different instructor than Selina, a very touchy guy who was probably still trying to pay his tuition with a shitty job and in return had a terrible tendency of getting too close. By the third time he came behind her to show how to position herself, she was done.

“Excuse me, how old are you?” she had asked. He was tanned and hot, but he also was an adult and that made things _not_ okay in her opinion.

“I’m twenty-five,” he answered with a smile and still too close and she made a face.

“Well then, **_pedophile_** , this is not the cold opening of cheap porn. Back the fuck off.”

Just the sight of that instructor nauseated her, so Ivy gave up on the tennis making a mental note to report him later, and then headed to other quarters. She passed by the Tai Chi group where she spotted Bruce Wayne between two ladies and he waved to her. Against all her principles, she caught herself waving back, but quick corrected herself by going to the stables without looking back.

Many people would complain about the smell of horses, but Ivy didn’t really care. It was all part of many circles of life and it filled her chest with an undeniable joy that she only knew how to deal with when she was among her plants. She wasn’t the only one to enjoy the company of the horses, because the stable had a fair amount of people bringing and taking animals to the horse track.

The main reason why Ivy had gone through the stables was because it was the shortest way to the gardens, but when she was halfway through it, one of the horses breathed right in her hair, making her jump in surprise. The horse – that no longer after she realized was a mare – made a sound pretty close to a laugh and the person who was brushing its mane laughed too.

“She likes you,” the person, a girl that only got into Ivy’s line of view a step later, said. She was blond with dark eyes and a beautiful, large smile. She also looked fairly familiar, but V didn’t try to remember from where.

“Hi.”

“Forgive Royalty, she’s just a clown teen,” the blond continued, petting the white fur of the mare and Ivy took a closer look at the animal.

Her mane was as white as the rest of her fur, her eyes were kind, the color of liquid chocolate, and she was a true beauty.

“It’s okay,” Ivy replied automatically, reaching to pet Royalty’s neck and the mare sniffed her hair again excitedly. The other girl still brushed her mane.

“Maybe it’s the color of your hair,” she wondered. “She must be wondering if you’re made of carrots and apples.”

Ivy smiled. She was separated from the mare and the girl by the stall’s door.

“That’s a poetic line of thought,” she said still petting the animal. “But girl, I ain’t no food.” That last part was for Royalty, but she shot a glance to the blond and saw her smiling. “I’m Pamela, by the way.”

“Silver.”

Oh!

 _Oh_.

Okay, time to keep it cool.

“Is she yours?” Ivy asked, instead of asking the other thousands of questions that ran through her mind.

“Basically,” Silver answered. She probably had no clue who Ivy was. “I’ve been with her since she was born, which… wasn’t so long ago really. She’s so adorable, but they won’t sell her to, not after my uncle…” she drifted off, unable to say what had happened to her uncle for things to get unfriendly, but she didn’t need to. Everyone knew what the Galavans did, especially Ivy, who had to be in one end of the tug war for Barbara’s sanity. Silver shook her head, laying the brush on a hay square. “Anyway. At least they let me take care of her when I come here.”

“Maybe Bruce Wayne could buy her for you,” Ivy commented before she was able to shut her mouth and Silver looked at her with surprised eyes. “Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

The blond smiled with a spark of joy that Ivy had seen before – in Selina – and she didn’t know what to feel about it. Bruce Wayne had cast a spell on both of them and the redhead was in no position to take that from anyone.

“I guess that comes from dating the richest teen of the country, okay,” she said, not a single drop of annoyance in her voice.

“Or maybe I follow way too many paparazzi on Instagram,” Ivy replied, at the same time thinking about the real reason why she knew it – because her best friend was his ex.

“Would you like to mount?” Silver asked after she nodded and Ivy shook her head.

“No, thanks. I’m just heading to the gardens.”

“Oh, okay,” the blond said, sounding almost disappointed (or maybe Ivy was reading a lot into it). “Nice to meet you, Pamela.”

“Same, Silver. Royalty.”

They waved goodbye and Ivy finally went to the gardens, where she had to suffer twice in two different moments, because of two guys that tried to hit on her by showcasing their completely wrong and boring concepts about flowers. She dispensed them by proving how they were full of crap and should pay better attention to their biology classes and then, afraid to extend the torture for too long, she headed to the only vegan restaurant of the club – a cute, intimate house in the middle of the garden.

When she was finally by herself, with no touchy instructors nor annoying teenage boys to interrupt her guacamole sandwich experience, Ivy was finally in peace. She spent way too long in the quiet of the nature, only exchanging texts with Selina until the warmth of the middle of the day was too much to handle, forcing Ivy to head to the pools.

After five minutes in the water, the girl sat by the pool, her feet enjoying its freshness, under the shadow of a tree that was hitting in the right angle, large enough for a couple of people to sit.

Even though the place was filled with loud kids and teens, Ivy still felt peaceful, she even closed her eyes for a few until she sensed that someone sat by her side. Immediately, the girl looked to her left and saw that none less than Bruce Wayne, decided to join her. His black hair was wet and his skin a bit tanned. He was careful not to sit too close.

“Hi Ivy,” he greeted, completely ignoring her death stare.

“Wayne.”

“Oh, come on,” they boy, elbowing her as if they were old friends. “You’re always so willingly committed to avoid me, can’t we be over the past already?”

“I don’t know, Bruce. Are you over that night and that alley?” she replied acidly and partially regretted it the following second. But only partially.

“Touché,” he said taking a deep breath and then smiled. “But you already called me Bruce, so that’s a start.”

Ivy scoffed, even almost smiled.

“Don’t hold your breath.”

She wanted to say a lot of things to him, most of them because of Selina, because she knew what would happen if he kept playing with her friend’s heart, even though Cat was completely oblivious to it. Their terrible dynamic would not only ruin Selina, but Silver would also get a lot of share on the drama and she looked like a decent girl. Troubled, but decent anyway. Ivy wanted to tell him that she met Silver and that he should cherish her, because girls are a beautiful thing that deserve love and respect – two things that wouldn’t be possible if he was a man whore -, but he was laughing and making small jokes, trying to crack her walls. The Bruce Wayne that Selina liked to talk about.

The one she had met was wounded, as wounded as she was at the time, but the boy in front of her now had learned how to copy. Ivy kind of envied him and kind of understood why everyone was in love with him.

“V?” Selina called from behind them and they looked back at the same time. She was a few feet away, beyond the fence, with a black guy by her side. “Explain me again why do you even _have_ a phone?”

Frowning, Ivy reached for her phone, that was on top of her clothes behind her, not even an arm’s reach away and checked it.

“Seriously?” the younger teen exclaimed. “Fourteen texts in the past five minutes?”

“Do you ever know what urgency means?” Cat replied totally ignoring the crossed conversation that Sam and Bruce were having. They did go to the same school. “I found us a _ride_.”

Ivy was reading through the texts Selina had sent (most of them were “WHERE ARE YOU SRLY!”), but the last one was the one that made her snap her head up and look in the other girl’s eyes interested.

 **CAT** : _OVC, I need you!!!_

OVC stood for Operation V-Card, which wasn’t a very original name, but they liked it, and Ivy typed an answer so fast that the result was even funny.

 **IVY** : _not hafin ga focking treesone_.

Selina’s phone biped, she read the text and then rolled her eyes.

“Do you trust me, V?” she said, partially annoyed, partially disappointed. Ivy sighed. When they came up with their plan, she never thought that it would end up happening so fast, and now Selina already had everything set. How could a girl react?

“ _Okay_. Fine,” she whined, getting up. Ivy fished her shorts and top from the floor and caught her purse.

“I will go see if Kory is ready,” the guy that came with Selina, Sam, told her. He was twirling a car key in his fingers. “We gotta talk about those fabrics later, Bruce.”

The billionaire nodded.

“Whatsapp me and we’ll discuss it,” he replied before the guy left. Both girls were looking at him trying to understand.

“You in the fashion business now?” Selina asked and the boy rolled his eyes.

“No, it’s a science project we’re developing, but you seem to be in a hurry and that’s a subject that needs time to be explained.”

“Okay, that makes me not want to know,” Cat replied. “I mean, you know I have the-“

“Attention span of a cat, yes,” Bruce completed. This time, it was Ivy’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Yeah, you’re such soulmates, whatever. Let’s go, already,” she said taking a couple of steps in Selina’s direction and ignoring their clear embarrassment, but then she remembered of something and turned to Bruce again. “By the way, I introduced myself to your girlfriend as Pamela, so…”

She could practically see the wheels turning and then he got it.

“Sure, don’t worry.”

When she turned around again, Selina was heading to the ramp that led to the main building looking at her cellphone.

“You’re BFFs with Bruce now?” the girl asked without looking up and Ivy scoffed.

“You wish, Selly. Do you care to explain?”

“Okay,” Cat started going up the ramp with even steps. “His name is Kory with a K and he’s-“

“The black guy?” Ivy interrupted already confused. She was sure they had called him Sam.

“No, that’s Sam and I got dibs on him. _Your_ guy is called Kory with a K that is short for something else that Sam said he could never remember the right pronunciation. He’s Canadian, like Inuit Canadian, and he wants to live in an island to save the ocean or something.”

“Have you seen him?” the younger girl asked concerned and Selina stopped. They were in the highest point of the club and could see the pools and the courts and the stables in the distance.

“Not exactly, I just saw his back, he had his hair in a bun and a beautiful skin color, but only Sam came to talk to me. I know what he told me: that Kory is an exchange student living with them until the end of the summer, that he’s sixteen, that they were going to spend the rest of the day playing videogames, but maybe we could change that.”

Along Selina’s monologue, her phone buzzed a couple of times, but this time she didn’t check it, just waited for Ivy’s reaction, which wasn’t exactly how she thought it’d be.

“Is this his idea?” the redhead asked, hyperventilating a bit and Selina stepped slightly closer.

“He _thinks_ it is,” she assured, and then she held Ivy’s shoulders. “V, this was your idea. I know you’re going to OVC eventually, but I want you to remember that you don’t need to do this today. Hell, I’m not even sure what **_I_** am going to do! You’re strong and badass and knows what to do if this dude has trouble to understand the word no. Okay? Don’t hesitate to punch him in the dick.”

That made her laugh and then Selina’s phone buzzed again.

“What the hell is going on?” Ivy asked, snatching the phone from Selina’s hand.

“Hey!”

“Jim?” the redhead exclaimed, checking the exchange of texts. “Since when you need the reassuring of a cop?”

“It’s not just a cop, it’s _Jim_. And he knows Sam’s family, I just wanted to make sure. You can’t blame me for being a little careful.”

Ivy shook her head.

“You can only be sure when you’re sure,” she philosophized, both girls looking down the pools in the safety of the AC of the main building. They saw Silver St. Cloud and Bruce Wayne all touchy and kissy like a couple straight out of a magazine. “She’s hot,” Ivy commented, tilting her head as they watched them.

“As fuck,” Selina agreed, her tone accusing that she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

The younger girl, then, eyed the older with calculated examination and concluded.

“You’re hot too,” which made Selina smile, her eyes still on the prettiest couple of Gotham. “And probably more awesome.”

At that, the older girl laughed, finally looking at Ivy again.

“It’s not a competition, V,” she explained and the other girl looked slightly confused.

“You know I was just beginning to get used to you two being a thing.”

“Well, we aren’t. He’s a friend, that’s all. I mean, used to be, I’m not so sure where we stand anymore, but-“

Ivy scoffed, because it sounded a lot like bullshit. How could they pull the plug on their friendship every now and then and still be completely okay on the next moment? And to think that she almost gave him a chance.

“Don’t do that, he’s nice!” Selina cut her line of thought. “Maybe too nice, but it’s okay.”

“I know. But shouldn’t a nice person accept the right one unconditionally?” Ivy asked, only a second later realizing the use of ‘ _right one_ ’ as referring to Selina and Bruce and she decided to bury it, because she was raising a valid point there.

“I don’t know, V. Everything has a breaking point, even people.”

That was a good come back, Ivy pondered still watching them by the pool.

“But Silver… do you think the size of her boobs can soften his breaking point? I mean, she _is_ Tabs niece and she _is_ a Galavan,” she rambled, almost losing track of thoughts. “See where I’m getting?”

Selina nodded.

“She’s got some darkness in her,” she said and Ivy agreed.

“So do you,” the redhead completed, but Selina shook her head.

“No, V. I’ve got heaviness.”

“Is there a difference?” the younger wondered.

Soberly, Selina nodded again.

“Heaviness is hard to carry. Is quite easy to spot really,” she explained. “ _You_ ’ve got darkness, like Jim. But Babs is heavy. Do you see it?”

Putting it that way, Ivy could see it, understand it and not like it, but instead of opening a whole discussion about it, she said-

“That’s quite clever for someone who refuses to go to school,” saving that discussion for the right moment, one when she’d have the right arguments to top Selina’s.

“It’s the heaviness,” the older girl replied so seriously that it was also kind of sad.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ivy asked, optioning not to give it too much thought and focusing on what was urgent.

“I don’t know,” Selina answered, her eyes drifting through the hall to see if Sam would show up. “But I think I can do it.”

Oh, Ivy was sure Selina could do it, because whether she’d admit it or not, Cat was more experienced in getting men to do what she wanted. Ivy, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure she’d know what to do, being so new to this whole ‘ _I’m a woman_ ’ business. Babs and Cat made it look easy, but one could never be too certain.

“Relax, okay?” Selina reminded her as they walked towards the reception. “Babs said that there’s nothing worse than being all tense, so tell your brain to let the feelings be. Try to let yourself enjoy things. And also, tell Kory with a K that you’re ha-“

“Hard to please, so that way there’s a small chance of him at least try to pretend that this can be pleasurable to me too, I know,” Ivy completed. That was another piece of advice they got from Barbara completely at random like most of her best advices were delivered.

Selina smiled, doing a little happy dance after hearing Ivy’s words.

“You’ve kissed him already, didn’t you?” Ivy asked and Selina’s smile widened. “If this sucks to me, I swear to God I’ll kill you.”

The other girl relaxed in an exaggerated way, just to throw the younger off. Cat knew how mad Ivy could get when things didn’t go her way and people didn’t care about it.

“Come on, V, this can go either great or terrible for both of-“ but she drifted off as she saw Sam and Kory coming from the right side of the building, where the gym was, the same direction Ivy was looking at. Both girls were equally flabbergasted. “ _Holy shit_.”

“You think that’s Kory with a K?” Ivy asked quickly, her eyes scanning every inch of golden skin that he was exhibiting.

“He… uh…” Selina chocked and she had to close her mouth. “He’s built like a Greek god.”

And he was. Practically Sam’s height, with muscles well defined and a beautiful smile, Kory with K had no flaws.

“God bless Canada,” Selina said under her breath and Ivy stepped forward, still mesmerized by his beauty. She didn’t even feel sorry.

“I got dibs,” were her only words. And that sealed the afternoon.

 

“Welcome to Jitters. I’m Selina and I’ll be your waitress today. Coffee?”

“You’re new,” one of the blondes of the table said as the other accepted a mug of cop and Selina agreed with a nod.

“Second day, but I promise I’m very efficient,” the girl replied and then looked at the woman who was talking to her, taking in another shock. “You’re Felicity Smoak,” she breathed out before she could refrain herself and the blond looked at her surprised.

“That wasn’t weird at all,” Felicity said, looking at the lady across from her with questioning eyes.

“I’m sorry, that was totally… sorry!” Selina stuttered. What the hell was wrong with her?

“How come you know who she is?” the other blond asked. She was a cop, according to the badge in front of her and the credential on the table read Laurel Lance.

Selina smiled and shook her head remembering the awkward way she first heard of Felicity’s existence and how embarrassing it was.

“An article in a teen magazine about billionaires ‘ _peasant_ ’ lovers.”

Felicity made a face that Selina could relate to at the word ‘ _peasant_ ’.

“Oh, God, that article,” she whined.

“I know, right?” the teen agreed, feeling just as ashamed.

“You don’t strike me as someone who’s read teen mags, though, Selina,” Laurel said, but not in a suspicious way, just curious.

“And I don’t. My sister does and she showed me this one because-“ she was about to say it - _because I’m a peasant girlfriend too_ -, but this time her brain froze her tongue in time. “-of reasons and okay, I’d probably had forgotten it by now, but when I mentioned it to my boyfriend, he just fangirled about you and how you’re an awesome hacker and how Wayne Enterprises has been trying to hire you for ages yada yada yada,” she took a deep breath, realizing that she was never that chatty. “I’m sorry, I swear I’m not a blabber, can I take your orders?”

Selina fished the notepad from her pocket ready to take notes and the two women exchanged an amused look.

“Wayne Enterprises…” Felicity said. “I don’t know if I would adapt.”

Selina shrugged.

“It’s kind of like here, but in larger scale,” she answered pretending not to notice that they were paying attention to her. “But without the vigilante bullshit.”

“How long have you been here, Selina?” the hacker asked and Cat sighed.

“It’s my own fault, isn’t it? I started talking,” the teen said dramatically and the women chuckled. “It’s my second week. I rented a loft and looked for a job because I don’t know how long I’m staying.”

“You look like a fine girl,” Laurel commented, eyeing her. “What made you leave?”

Selina frowned, considering if she should throw one of her smart answers, but she had the official, right one in her pocket and there was no harm in letting more people know, was there? So she took the piece of paper that was one of the posters she had hung in Smallville, unfolded it and put it in the table between the two women.

“It’s because of her,” she said. “It’s because of my sister.”

 

_Have you seen Ivy?_

_Contact Selina Kyle on haveyouseenivy.tumblr.com or call. Any info is important and welcome._

 

Star City was a weird city on the border of Ohio and Michigan that had a thing for crime and colorful vigilantes. With the lead on Palmer Technologies, Selina had a start point, but instead of going straight for it, she decided to observe the city and the company. She used her stashed money to rent a loft, found a job and within a week she was posted in front of the brand new building of Palmer Technologies.

The building, as well as many places in Star City, was new because of an explosion that happened around the same time there was a huge worm hole above Central City. Now, Selina didn’t know if those things were related, but she did know a lot about worm holes because she watched Interstellar about seven times with Bruce and Ivy and each time she got a new theory or trivia from them.

The owner of the building and head of the company, Ray Palmer, had gone M.I.A. when the explosion destroyed it, letting everyone to think that he was dead, but apparently it was impossible to die in this city; when he came back, things got pretty intense. Apparently, people weren’t dealing with the company the way _he_ would and that caused some tension that took some major law enforcement to settle.

As a matter of fact, that _city_ was intense. The Green Arrow had no chill and just his face had her bored, every time he talked, all Selina could hear was “wah wah wah”. He did have a dubious moral compass when it came to bad people, but this hero stuff never rang well on Gothamites. Every day, something would happen that Selina would find herself wondering or verbalizing “ _if it was Gotham_ …”, because really, if those kind of things ever happened in Gotham, the Penguin would probably make a couple of phone calls  - to the Riddler and maybe the Tigress – and have that people running by the end of the day.

Of course, that also made Star City way more interesting than Smallville, but even to watch ants build their anthill would be more interesting than Smallville. Watch _diamonds turn into graphite_ would be more interesting than Smallville. So there was that.

And yeah, you could say that she was enjoying it. Of course she now had a job very different from her gallery management, there was a boss to report that wasn’t her adopted mother and she had to handle the smell of sausages in the morning, which wasn’t ideal for someone fourteen weeks pregnant, but she was fine.

If there was something Selina knew how to do it was to handle herself.

There was no denial, though, that she’d have to figure out how the city and Palmer Technologies had something to do with Ivy’s kidnapping. Selina assumed the worst at first, but since her approach was so bad in Smallville, she decided to try something different and just lay low this time.

It became easier as she befriended one of the major employees of Palmer, Felicity Smoak, who decided that she was her new favorite waitress; they always had a good chat, especially because Selina could catch most of references the blond would make thanks to years of nerd friends.

At night, in her loft in Orchid Bay, Selina’d take her fish coaster, flash the UV light on it and just wonder. Wonder if they still had time to find Ivy alive, wonder if the clue the Pond had sent was what she really needed, wondered how they could possibly know all of that about Ivy and wonder if she wasn’t reading too much into it, if that SC clue wasn’t about Ivy, but about the Pond itself, a way to get her closer to Fish and hew new tank.

She would never know for sure until she knew for sure.

It was the second week there when she started to work on Jitters and the fact that she met Felicity right away was a plus. The hacker would always drop by for coffee, usually with a friend, and for some unknown reason they’d be always up to rescue Selina from nasty costumers. Not that she needed, but it was nice to know that the ‘ _protect yo girls squad_ ’ was strong around there.

“What a beauty like you is doing serving tables, babe?” asked a guy much older than her; he was wearing Palmer’s uniform, but didn’t look like a high tech guy. Selina smiled ironically; it was her third week there and there wouldn’t be a day that the dickness of men would surprise her.

“Trying to pay my rent,” she answered casually filling his mug with coffee. Before he could even touch her ass, she held his wrist midway the movement, pressing a very sensitive and painful point in a way that’d snap his bone with the right move. “I wouldn’t try it,” she warned and released his wrist.

The guy hardly look at her anymore.

“Having any trouble, Sel?” Laurel asked, passing behind her. This time, there were three of them: her, Felicity and Thea, and they sat on the next table. Selina scoffed.

“Don’t worry, I’m from Gotham. Being rid of douchbags is kind of my specialty. The usual?”

“The usual,” Thea answered for everyone and Selina nodded, going straight to the kitchen to get their food, but not without hearing her say. “I love this girl.”

“Arg, I swear to God, these are the most stinky sausages I’ve ever smelled,” Selina complained as soon as she hit the kitchen. She organized three plates on a tray and cut three even slices of blueberry pie.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” one of the girls said. “They smell delicious to me.”

The concept of delicious plus sausages was so unthinkable to Selina that she couldn’t even wrap her mind around it, but before she could point it out, they were all interrupted by shouts, the teen midway to filling Thea’s glass of red fruits juice.

“EVERYBODY FREEZE AND START COLABORATING, BECAUSE WE ARE TAKING YOUR MONEY!”

“Seriously?“ Selina heard someone say. Her first instinct was to duck behind the table, and then she remembered that she was well hidden behind the kitchen counter. “This is the Green Arrow’s city,” the person continued and they heard a loud scoff.

“To bad he only works at night. Now gimme the money!”

“Amateurs,” Selina mumbled to herself, holding herself not to roll her eyes.

Now, if there was something Selina was damn good at, it was to mind her own business. It had been her thing for most of her life, so you would suppose that it was exactly what she did, but no. Instead, the teen saw herself quietly choosing knives by their sharpness, small and big, until she had 4 of them in her hands. Quietly, she moved to the open door balancing the weight of a knife and completely focused. Those robbers were so bad, they didn’t even check the back room yet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” one of the girls hushed. She was ducked behind the counter and Selina put a finger on her lips in the universal ‘ _silence_ ’ signal.

Carefully, she peeked the room to see where each guy was and, for her surprise, they were all near the cashier, three guys partially masked with small guns and very bad posture. It was so similar to something that would happen in Gotham a couple of years before that it almost felt like home.

“Now, the older guy started to say, turning to the people with his gun pointed at the costumers, “I don’t wanna see any funny business, so why don’t yall put your phones right where we can see?” but since no one moved, he shot the ceiling, making a rain of cement shower upon himself. What a dummie. “I SAID PHONES ON THE TABLES!”

Selina rolled her eyes as everyone started to put their phones on tables. The guy that talked had his back to her while the others were ushering the cashier to put the money in a bag. He was wearing a jeans jacket, but she had seen that there wasn’t a lot of resistance on his other layers, so she aimed his right arm – the one he was holding the gun – and threw a knife.

It hit spot on and before he could even react, she already had invested in their direction, other two knives gone hitting one of the robbers on the shoulder and the other on the leg. By the time the gun of the first guy hit the floor and he looked at his arm, the knife hanging on in his bone, she was on top of him craving another blade in his shoulder and as he fell, howling with pain, she kicked another guy and disarmed him, also using his body as a shield, so the third guy, the one with the knife in his leg, wouldn’t be able to have a clean shot.

She pushed the guy on top of the other and they stumbled and fumbled, the one with the hurt leg still being the one in better shape, so Selina grabbed a chair, but it was nailed to the floor, making her breathe once with annoyance as the robber watched her for a couple of seconds.

“For fuck’s sake,” she breathed out and grabbed the next chair, this time one that could be moved, made of iron, which was way better for what she had planned for it, and with a gracious and fierce turn she hit the guy straight in the face, making him drop unconscious.

As she stepped forward to kick the gun from his hand, the other guy, the one Selina had hit in the shoulder only and was on the floor, grabbed her ankle making her lose balance, but as she fell, she was closer to the gun, so the moment he tried to climb on top of her, she pointed it at him, unlocking the safety with a loud click.

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned as he stayed there frozen, eyes on the barrel of the gun, blood dripping from his shoulder to her uniform. A couple of years being trained by Jim Gordon had her on automatic to not hit anywhere deadly, but if that guy as much as tried anything, she wouldn’t even be sorry.

“SCPD!” someone shouted, bringing Selina back to her body although she didn’t take her eyes – or gun – from him. It was Laurel, she knew, and even though she was a district attorney, she could do a few things that the girl wasn’t entirely sure what they were, but was enough to bring some order. “Selly, are you alright?”

The concern in her voice was dispensable in Selina’s opinion. Now that the adrenalin began to drop, she could hear the whisperers and a kid crying and the guy she hit twice moaning, steps towards her as Laurel pulled the robber from her and took the gun, someone helped her up, people called her name.

“I’m _fine_!” Selina finally replied after another three or four people asked the same thing. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“That was crazy, you could get hurt,” Felicity commented without hiding the worry in her voice and Selina scoffed. “No, seriously. Didn’t you get scared?”

“Nah,” the teen replied, smoothing her messed, semi-bloodied uniform with disinterest. She really didn’t.

“How could you?” Thea asked, a frown in her face. “Where did you learn all that?”

“I’m from Gotham. And my dad’s a cop.”

“So is mine and I wouldn’t do something like that,” Laurel insisted and Selina sighed. “Like never.”

“I’m from _Gotham_ ,” she said again as if it explained everything and didn’t quite getting why it was so hard for them to understand.

“Seriously, Selina,” the lawyer continued. She had finished knotting the robbers’ hands and they already could hear the police sirens. “You could have been hurt.”

“So what? Look, scars are just proof that you lived, and besides, I never miss a throw, my dad taught me how to handle knives bef-“

But before Selina could continue, the world went black so fast she didn’t even process it. It was as simple as that: one minute she was standing and sassing and in the blink of eyes, she was on the floor being supported by Felicity and one of the girls from work, way too many people around her.

“What the hell,” she gasped at the same time about four or five people asked variations of the same

“Oh my God, Selly! Are you okay?”

To which the only answer she had was

“That was new,” and then “I gotta end this.”

As if that blackout reminded her of something (and that something was that she was fifteen weeks pregnant and she couldn’t, shouldn’t be pregnant, because she was seventeen and Bruce was sixteen and he was nowhere to be found and that baby was a Wayne and she was a stray cat).

(how did a stray cat ended up with a billion dollars baby inside her belly?)

No. She had to end it.

“What?” Felicity asked frowning, because Selina didn’t make any sense.

Before anyone could stop her, the teen already was on her feet, a bit dizzy but strong in her legs. She had abused of those four months limit and she had to make some calls.

“Selina, hold on!” Laurel called out, but Felicity gestured that she’d handle it, going after the teen.

“Tell her not to worry, I won’t run always and I’ll answer all the questions, blah blah blah,” Selina said almost bored to the person following her, her eyes on the screen of her phone as she googled what she needed to know.

“It’s not that,” the hacker replied, reaching the teen and touching her shoulder. Sighing, she put her phone down. “You fainted. What happened, you seemed fine.”

For a couple of seconds, she considered saying it. It’s be different than spilling a joke for Sam Bradley, because it’d be her finally telling someone something that she kind of didn’t admit to herself, kind of wanted anyone to know and that was a whole lot of a big fucking deal.

“It’s just low pressure, I was about to have a little break to eat some fruit,” and since Felicity didn’t move or said anything, she just shrugged it off. “I’ll be back, I need to make a call.”

 

_It’s Bruce Wayne. I can’t talk now, but leave a message and I’ll get back ASAP._

“Hey B, it’s me. I’m in Star City now and no Ivy yet. I don’t really have something to say, it’s just… I miss you. Be safe.”


	7. A REWINDED CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, guys! If you feel like leaving me a gift, a comment will do just fine! hehe  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you like it!

“What about your lead?” Jim asked.

The good thing about SC Jitters was that it was always packed, noisy and had free wifi, so even on Selina’s off days, she’d show up there with her laptop to do some digging or skype call her family, like she was doing then.

“Palmer Technologies,” the girl sighed looking out of the window. The glassed building stood tall over the street with no discretion. “Looks like another dead end. I don’t know, the trail is good, but not very helpful. I went there a few times, just to visit, checked the blueprints, but nothing seems to ring any bells. No secret compartments or rooms… no weird safes… I even hacked their books and they look clean.”

“ _You_ hacked their books?”

Selina hummed for a few seconds avoiding eye contact.

“It might’ve been someone else doing that job for me.”

“Selina!”

“It’s not illegal,” she argued and Jim gave her that look he liked to give whenever her bullshiting was failing. “…much.”

“Goddammit, Selina,” said Jim.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? Everything is under control. Besides, Palmer Tech seems to be the most reliable company ever in the history of companies.”

“ _Reliable_?” Jim echoed frowning.

“Completely.”

“A corporation _completely reliable_?”

“Crazy, right?” the girl wondered and the cop nodded.

“Weird.”

“I know.”

“That can’t be right.”

“I thought so too, but I made my digging and nothing showed up. They are clean.”

Jim sat back, crossed his arms. He was at the police department, but his table was far enough now for there not to be many noise.

“Do you really think that?”

“Not really, no,” she pondered. “I think that the lead is about something I can’t see, something I can’t figure out yet. But I also know that there are other people I can go after, so I’m just gonna finish August here and head out.”

“Out to where?”

“Central City, if nothing else comes up.”

“What’s making you stay, though, baby?”

Selina shrugged. It probably looked like she was killing time and maybe she really was, but she also wanted to know for sure if it was the moment to leave.

“The loft contract, really. How’s Babs hanging on?”

“She’s doing alright. Did she tell you that she’s back in the gallery?” Selina nodded smiling. “She’s been taking Barbie, said it’s been a lot of fun.”

“Well, Barbie is adorable, I’m not surprised. How is she?”

“Getting bigger and smarter. Call home at night to talk to them.”

“Will do.”

“Her hair is getting darker, a red shade very similar to Ivy’s, you know?”

“This city is full of redheads,” Selina joked and Jim laughed. It was true.

“Who’s that?” someone else asked on Jim’s side and a second later Harvey Bullock appeared on the screen. “Oh, look! It’s the older daughter. How you doing, kiddo? Getting in trouble?”

“When do I ever get in trouble, Bullock?” she retorted.

“You want me to make a _list_?”

She rolled her eyes.

“How are _your_ redheads?”

“They are great! Clara is talking now, she is really adorable.”

“Tell Scotty I said hi, will you?”

“Sure thing. Are people still giving you shit about that video?”

“Uh…” Selina shrugged and then shook her head.

“I know you can handle yourself, you made it clear, but that’s what got that video out in the first place,” Bullock said eagerly, pointing his Fedora at the camera. “So if anyone bothers you, kiddo, you can call uncle Harvey here and I’ll come on running to kick some ass, alright?”

Selina laughed.

“Alright,” she agreed.

“What do you mean, she should be getting shit, she was reckless _and_ stupid!” Jim protested.

“Jimbo!” Harvey cut at the same time Selina exclaimed “No, I wasn’t!”

“That’s not what I trained you for!” he said for the millionth time and the girl lowered her head, her forehead on the table.

“Not that bullshit again!”

“Yeah, buddy. You _did_ train your girls,” Harvey observed, as if it explained everything.

“To defend themselves!”

“That’s what I did,” Selina argued, looking up again.

“No, it wasn’t. You were making sure you’d get paid,” Jim pointed out and Selina blushed. “Busted.”

“Dad, you’re such a killjoy.”

Bullock laughed.

“It’s so funny when they call you ‘dad’,” he joked, leaving the station. “Who’d tell you’d have a seventeen years old daughter!”

They still could hear his laugh as Jim shook his head.

“Central City, huh?” he asked and she nodded. “Why?”

“I’ll send you the link.”

“Will I understand it?”

Selina smiled.

“You know, if you don’t feel like calling Lee, you can always ask Ed.”

Jim forced a smile that looked so fake it was hilarious. It was a good day. She didn’t have to work, four out of five people of her family were fine, her baby had stopped making her faint and get sick, and Caitlin Snow-Raynolds had released another article about the substance found in Dorrance’s system, she said some things that caught her attention and sounded familiar.

They said that the Flash’s city, despite its meta-humans, was a nice place to live. Well, she would see.

 

A couple of days before, during her lunch break, Selina conclude that the weird encounters wouldn’t ever end and she was doomed to odd conversations. She had gone to the toilet, because her baby decided to rest against her bladder, and when she was washing her hands, a woman with a baby girl was getting in.

“Hi,” the woman greeted. She had dark eyes, black straight hair and her baby looked just like her. Selina gave a smile for answer. “Could you hold her for me for a minute, please?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” the teen agreed caught off guard, and the baby was put in her arms with urgency.

“You’ve no idea how long I’ve been needing to pee,” the mother admitted, getting in one of the booths. “Do you know what it is already?”

“Excuse me?” Selina asked. She was a bit distracted with how attentive that little girl’s eyes were.

“Your baby,” the woman said. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

Oh yeah, her baby. It seemed that it was taking so long for it to start to grow, but now the bump had been evident for the past three weeks, discreet at first, but now she was looking obviously pregnant. Selina was just beginning to get used to it, all her clothes were starting to get tight around her waist already. If she didn’t have plans to leave the city within the next ten days, she’d have to ask for a new uniform at work.

“No, I don’t yet,” Selina told her. To be honest, she didn’t even go to the doctor, although she probably should. The problem was that there was only _one_ doctor she trusted and that doctor was a close friend of Alfred Pennyworth, which meant that she was only two degrees away from Bruce Wayne and that was too close a call.

“Looks like a boy. You carry a boy differently than a girl, you know?”

The girl nodded.

“That’s what Kim Kardashian said,” she observed and the woman got out of the booth frowning. “Come on, we all have guilty pleasures. At home, there were three women – me, my mom and my sister Ivy – and my dad. We are _all_ different, but if there was one thing that unified us, it was _Keeping Up With the Kardashians_. V is obsessed with celebrities, mom grew up a fop, I really like their fashion. Even my dad would watch it if he was home, and at first it was because we wouldn’t let him change the channel, but then he warmed up to it and now he even checks Cait Jenner’s blog and stuff,” she shook her head. Why did that city made her so chatty? “Sorry, I’m blabbing. I’m a Kardashian Stan, like my sister Ivy, who was kidnapped. Have you-“

“I saw the video,” the woman cut her gently, raising a hand and Selina breathed.

“At least that damn thing worked for something,” the girl moaned, handing the baby back to her mother.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad! You were great. It’s what you left Gotham for, wasn’t it?” she pondered, meaning the fight and the attention.

The teen smiled.

“I actually left to seek peace of mind and restore my faith in humanity.”

“Is it working?” the woman asked and Selina burst out laughing, making her laugh too. What a question.

“No!”

“At least the only thing you need to be in peace with is your baby. Have you thought of names?”

“Well, that I did,” Cat replied, breathing after all the laugh and resting a hand on her baby bump. “Connor if it’s a boy, Sarah for a girl. I think its father will agree.”

“Those are good names,” the woman commented, but they were interrupted by Selina’s phone ringing. She checked it, saw that it was Harleen and sighed.

“That _bitch_ ,” Selina cussed bitterly and looked at the lady apologetically. “Sorry, I have to take this. Nice to meet you!” and when she took the call- “I hope you have some fucking sense back into your dumb brain or you better hang up _right now_.”

 

Some people do things that make others angry. Some people are normally okay, but manage to burn some sensitive spots every now and then. Some people, on the other hand, piss everyone off just by existing. Selina got a taste of each of these types the week before her weird toilet encounter.

“You okay?” one of the girls, Ruby, asked for about the tenth time and it still was short past 10 a.m. “If you need to take a break or anything…”

“Ruby,” the teen cut her from her spot filling mayo portions at the counter. “I’m just pregnant, not _sick_. Stop treating me like I’m gonna crumble. If I need a break, I’ll make a break. Could you just _stop worrying_?” and before the other girl could say anything else, she was quick to add- “It doesn’t matter that I fainted, I’m past those months already.”

Any other protest by Ruby was muffled by the excited voices of two guys that entered and Selina turned to look.

“Selina Kyle!” none less than Tommy Elliott exclaimed from the line to make his order and she smiled. He was with Jonny Crane, who looked a bit unsettled, but overall alright and both of them had identification cards on their shirts, the unmistakable P of Palmer Tech shining blue over a square that must be where their photos were. After they ordered, they sat in front of her. “You know, I saw that video, but I couldn’t quite believe it was you.”

“Yeah, everyone saw that damn video,” she whined without stopping what she was doing.

“Don’t worry about it, Cat,” Jonny said, always the sweet one. “You look badass in every single version.”

“Well, thanks Jonathan. Some people know how to greet!”

“Come on, will you ever forget that?” Tommy asked, making a bit of a pout that, well, made her laugh a bit and she shook her head.

“Damn right I won’t, Thomas,” because she wouldn’t, but the thing about those couple of years after she first met Tommy Elliott was that they got to know each other a bit better and when he wasn’t talking about Bruce, or near his other white friends, he was an okay guy. He even got a little cute.

A big part of the change, Selina guessed, could be because of that other guy: Jonathan. Don’t ask Selina how, but ever since they became friends, Tommy became a _much better_ person.

“That video came out two weeks ago, though,” she continued. “What took you so long to pay a visit?”

“I wasn’t in town,” Jonathan answered.

“And I didn’t have the balls to come alone,” said the other boy and Ruby sat his plate of blueberry pie before shooting a glance to Selina as if asking if she needed saving. The teen just shook her head. “You’re just so intimidating, Selly.”

“That’s because you know me,” she said. Ruby put a glass of orange juice and a cheese bun to Jonny, and then went back to her spot shouting orders. “Most people just think I’m tiny.”

“You’re that too,” he said, chewing his pie. Like Bruce, he had learned to be charming doing the most simple things. “But you’re more intimidating than tiny.”

“Wow. That’s quite the compliment, what’s got into you?” Selina asked genuinely surprised. Whatever it was that was making Tommy act like a decent person, please, never leave.

“It’s just the truth,” he shrugged and she looked at Jonny with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know either, don’t ask me,” the older boy was quick to say and then – “At the interview… you said something about looking for Pamela,” Selina nodded. “I saw your blog. Did you have any news?”

“Nothing big, not really. Lately, I just been getting those ‘ _good luck, you’ve got my support_ ’ bullshit, as if their ‘ _positive vibes_ ’ will make V’s kidnapper release her whole.”

Selina scoffed and Jonathan moved uncomfortably in his chair. These past few days, talking about Ivy’s case made her moody, passionate and emotional, so she decided to change the subject.

“What do you guys even _do_ at Palmer Tech! I thought you two were in the medical area.”

“I’m with the psychological support department,” Jonny answered her de pronto and Tommy first took a sip of the tea Ruby had just handed to him. Tea! In mid-August!

“You do know that nanotechnology is something that already is used in medicine, right?”

“Oh!” she exclaimed mockingly. “Snob Tommy is back! I was wondering how long it’d take-“

“Selina, _come on_ ,” he pleaded and she said nothing. “I found out that Palmer Tech is pioneer in medicinal nanotech, focused on post-surgery recovery, that’s why I’m here.”

“Thank you, now I understand,” Selina replied and started to put the mayo portions in the mini fridge under the counter.

“It’s kind of weird seeing you in uniform, though,” he said, Jonathan one hundred percent focused on his cheese bun. “After years of fancy clothes and high heels in Gotham’s noblest area…”

“A job is a job, Elliott. And you do what you gotta do.”

Before Selina could go any more philosophic, Laurel stormed in so fiercely that it was impossible not to look at her. She came straight to the teen, who had just finished putting the mayo in the fridge.

“Sel, you’ve been served,” the lawyer announced, putting a folded paper on the counter dramatically. She knew how to make an entrance. “Sorry, I tried to make him drop the charges, but nothing could stop him.”

Selina looked at the papers with little interest, her eyes going fast through what I said.

“That’s what douches are good at,” she ironized.

“You’ll have to testify. Can’t leave town. And we’ll need to call your parents.”

At that, the girl took a deep breath and pouted, letting it hang for a while.

“You see, that’s not possible. I’ve no parents.”

“But you’re adopted.”

Selina hummed.

“Except that I ain’t. We just… sort of have a deal and they let me stay… it’s family, but not legally. So yeah, no calling my dad. Don’t worry, I got it covered.”

For a moment, Laurel was just silently watching Selina, wondering who was that girl, but then she just shrugged it off. She’d never understand.

“Will you need a lawyer?”

Selina folded the papers again and put them in her front pocket.

“Don’t worry. There’s this dude that owes me a favor, I can call if I need it. But I won’t need it.”

“Who?” Tommy interfered. “You can’t possibly mean Dent.”

“You bet,” she replied with a smile.

“I really tried to have him dropping the charges, but he wouldn’t let it go.” Laurel told her again.

The teen shook her head.

“No problem, really. I’ve got this. You came for lunch too?”

“Well, of course!”

They both smiled.

“I’ll have Zane make the special for you.”

“You always know,” she replied, already looking for a place to sit and Selina nodded at Ruby before she looked at the boys in front of her.

“Customers are customers. You just gotta know what they want.”

“Art, food… Seems like a lot to know,” Jonathan commented.

“Who’d be charging you with anything?” Tommy, unable to push away his curiosity, asked and Selina shrugged.

“Just this dude called Klade Winger who thought he could assault me and ended up with his joke of a penis out to the world at a night club.”

Both Tommy and Jonny stared at her wide eyed.

“You didn’t,” the later gasped.

“I totally did,” she said casually. “The place he was displayed was particularly visible,” she searched something on her phone and then showed it to them. “Here.”

“Oh! God!” they exclaimed, half disgusted, half amazed.

“You tiny little evil,” Tommy commented.

“I know, right?” she took the phone back and pulled the fresh batch of brownies that had just been placed near her to cut the slices. “Isn’t this place _fun_?”

“Admit you just miss Gotham.”

“Thomas, ‘ _miss_ ’ is an understatement.”

“Then go back,” he pondered and Selina sighed.

“Not without Ivy, no.”

“It’s a long shot,” Jonathan commented soberly.

“That I’m willing to take, because it’s the only option I have,” she told them. “Look, there are only five people in my life that I deeply care about and only eighty percent of them are safe in different levels. Ivy is the twenty percent I own and can do something about, so that’s what I’m gonna do. What I’m doing.”

“I noticed that you said in the blog that she was kidnapped,” Jonathan said carefully. “What makes you so sure?”

“You know how Harleen was hanging posters all around town to see if someone had seen something?” they nodded. “Turns out, someone did. An eye witness from the Deck of Cards. Didn’t help much, but gave us a start point.”

“The Deck?” the older boy echoed, frowning. “I guess it makes sense, it’s right beside Arkham. It’s the last place they saw Pam, right? Harleen told me. It also explains why she’s been spending so much time there. It’s nice you two partner to find Pamela.”

Selina would be delighted if only one of the things Jonathan said hadn’t caught her completely off guard.

“Hold on, Harleen’s doing _what_?”

“I guess she’s trying to gather more info, I saw her with Jerome a couple of times now. Are you okay?”

She wasn’t. Selina was puffing like an angry bull and her hand gripped the knife fiercely.

“Is she out of her fucking _mind_?”

“Selina?” someone with a very soothing voice called from her side and held her right hand. “Why don’t we let go of the potential weapons and go get some fresh air? You need to breathe.”

Snapping out of it, Selina let go of the knife and found out that it was Ruby by her side.

“You know what?” she said. “You’re right, I will make that break now,” she fished her phone from her pocket. “I’m making that break and calling Harleen now to see if she still have some sense in that _dumb blonde head_ of hers!”

She was practically pushed outside, barking things like ‘ _stupid bitch_ ’ and ‘ _how can someone be so idiotic_ ’ while furiously typing on her phone. She called Harleen and waited, but when the call was taken-

“ _Selina Kyle!_ ” came a voice that definitely wasn’t Harleen’s followed by a hysterical laugh, and her immediate instinct was to hang up and scream at the wall.

“Selly, you’re scaring me, please calm down,” Ruby pleaded, only then her voice tuning again. “You can’t stress, think about your baby…”

Breathing deep a few times, Selina realized that she was crying. _Crying_ , for fuck’s sake, again. She had one hand on her belly, the other holding her phone.

“It’s too late for that, you know?” she said with broken breath. “It was conceived under stress, my baby. Stress is the first thing it knows.”

She turned to Ruby, letting the tears fall, and the girl gave her a sad smile.

“I think you’re wrong. I think that the first thing your baby knows is love.”

Smiling just as sadly, Selina tried to clean her face with the back of her hand.

“Why do people do idiotic things even after you warned them? Damn, Ivy will be so pissed when she finds out. You know that guy I knocked out in that club?” Ruby nodded. Everyone knew. “It was because of him. Jerome Valeska. It trigged me right back to him. Ivy _hates_ him. And Ivy deals with hate different than me. Now her girlfriend is with him. This world is a mess.”

“You can’t help _everyone_ , Sel,” Ruby pondered. “It’s just not humanly possible.”

Selina sighed.

“I know.”

“But you can help me,” she teased, and Selina looked at her slightly confused. Ruby smiled again, this time for real. “Who’s that Tommy guy?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. He’s cute.”

“Except when he talks, perhaps,” Selina observed and the other girl made a face.

“Come on, Sel, you looked friendly.”

“That’s because I learned to tolerate him!” she exclaimed, but with Ruby going all puppy eyes on her it was kind of hard to say no. “I hate your ass so much sometimes, you’ve no idea. Okay, fine. Just promise me you won’t mention this” she pointed at her baby bump “to him.”

“I thought you weren’t hiding.”

“I ain’t. It’s just him I don’t want to know.”

“Why not?”

Because despite the fact that, okay, she grew to not hate him, there still was something unsettling about Tommy Elliott that made her want to be careful, but that was too long an answer, so Selina just said –

“Because he’s weird.”

Ruby went back to work before Selina, who stayed a bit longer and called Harleen again, this time calmer, to say that she’d better get her ass away from Jerome and call her back when she had recovered her senses or Selina would have to make some calls and, oh, what resourceful person she could be.

When she came back inside, Tommy and Jonathan had left already, but Ruby gave her two thumbs up meaning that she had managed to give her number to Tommy or something similar. Selina went back to her condiments duty, but a couple of minutes after, one of the guys handed her an envelope with her name on it.

“Someone left it for you,” he said and she frowned.

“Who?”

“I don’t know. It was in one of the tables and it has your name.”

Curious, she opened the envelope. It had nothing but a blue flower, small and drying, rolled on an ivy twig. She looked around, but anyone who’d left it there was probably gone. She had no idea what it meant.

 

It was good to be out of the morning sickness zone, no worries about suddenly fainting and although the sausages still smelled terrible, that beginning of fifth month was surprisingly fine. Of course starting a fifth month also meant that Selina Kyle had entered her fifth month of cycles and dead ends to find her sister and only God knew what could have happened to Ivy so far.

So that first week of five months was a tad edgy for the seventeen years old and some would have to excuse her for being a bit… blunt.

Unfortunately, not everyone could make it out intact of those delicate days, as the girls from Jitters found out one morning as they changed into their uniforms to start the day.

“Uh, Selina?” one of the girls called. She was older, uni student trying not to drown in debt, and she had terrible timing. “Is that a food baby?” she asked, lousily pointing at the teen’s belly.

You see, for her, the changes in her body were noticeable for weeks – she had a new rack that would make Ivy nod in approval, some of her jeans had to go, and that baby bump was poking out for a while now. But it was true that not many people were able to notice so far. Actually, that was the first time someone pointed it out.

“No,” she answered, as if it was obvious. “It’s a human baby.”

To be honest, Selina didn’t know what she expected when she spilled the words. When Barbara started to show, everyone would just immediately swoon or ask to touch her belly and try to feel the baby. At work, people would engage in conversations about babies. Some client would mention how her pregnancy went, they’d share stories, ask about scans and name options. But instead, what she got was –

“You’re pregnant?! How?!”

Which was quite the weird question.

“That’s a weird question,” Selina said, for she was _pretty sure_ everyone in that room knew how one gets pregnant.

“I mean,” the girl tried to explain. “Aren’t you, like, seventeen?”

“Yes,” she replied, struggling to see her point.

“Why would you get pregnant at seventeen?”

“Oh,” the teen exclaimed.

That would lead to some _Teen Mom_ talk, that was the point! About how she had screwed her life by not being careful or taking care of it, and how she was such a lost potential to the world, because now she would be a mother, might as well have come straight from a MTV reality bullshit to remind them of the importance of “making the right choices”. Nah, she wasn’t having it today.

“You think it’s that simple?” Selina snapped, finishing buttoning her uniform. “Maybe you should think twice. It’s easy to keep tabs with your medication when things are fine, but try to remember to take the pill everyday even when you’re working to help in the house, because your pregnant mother is not doing so well; when your sister is _kidnapped_ right under your nose and despite all of your father’s efforts, the useless police department can’t seem to find any clue that will bring her back, so all you can do is do their job; and on top of everything, your boyfriend is the only good, peaceful, nice thing of your day. Yeah, I forgot to take the pills, I got pregnant at seventeen and stayed pregnant, _sorry_. But shit happens.”

“Selina?” Zane, the cook, called from the door and handed her a big envelope. He didn’t show any sign of knowing why the air was so thick with awkwardness. “A guy in a Wayne Tech car left this for you.”

She took it and looked at the mailing address. Jim’s handwrite read ‘ _For my badass baby girl that should KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW Selina Kyle_ ’ that made her smile for the first time in the day.

“It’s my dad’s. He probably asked Fox to bring it to me. Thanks Zane.”

“You’ve some pretty dope connections, Sel,” he said, leaving and she shrugged proud of herself. He had no idea.

Selina put the envelope in her locker, knowing what it was, a small smile still on her face. She was going to save that one for later.

“That baby of yours,” the uni girl approached one more time. “Is that why you left Gotham?”

Taking a deep breath and working hard not to roll her eyes, Selina closed the locker before answering.

“I left Gotham to figure out what 42 could possibly be the answer for, but I guess I shouldn’t have left, because Gothamites tend to mind their own business.”

 

Central city wasn’t exactly _near_ Star City, but that robbery that had happened at Jitters was so impressive that it hit national news pretty fast, and it hit Jonathan Crane in a deeper way, because the reason it was such a blast was because Selina Kyle was involved and she had used her fifteen minutes of fame to make sure she was heard about looking for Pamela above everything else. Pamela, who was right in the other room and he could do nothing about.

He checked his phone just because, knowing that it had no signal and sighed before knocking on her door twice.

“Pam?” Jonathan called and waited. On the other side of the metal doors, he heard uncertain steps.

“Jonny?” Ivy asked and he nodded to the guard to let him in.

When the door was opened, they faced each other from a safe distance. They still only given her white cotton clothes to wear and her room was square, with one graded window, a shower on the corner with no mirrors and no curtains, everything dangerously resembling a prison cell. On the other end, there was another door that led, he knew, to the herbarium, where he himself had spent some time in.

Pamela, on her side, looked so much better than the last time he had seen her. Whatever they had been giving her for the past five months had stopped dueling with her body and started working with it. Her skin looked healthier, her hair seemed to be a brighter red and it looked like she was better with herself.

“Hi Jonny,” she greeted with unexpected calm, and he stepped inside, having the door locked behind him as soon as he was in.

“You look alright,” the boy commented, getting closer. Pamela had a way of making herself look smaller with that long, long hair and the posture of her shoulders that he wasn’t sure was intentional or if Woodrue had just broken her. She offered him the shiest of the smiles.

“I’ve got conditioner now,” she told him, playing with a strand of red hair. “Thanks for helping, I’m eating better and they even allow me in the herbarium, have you been there?”

“I have, actually,” he admitted. “There’s a blue flower that I’m trying to study, they have dozens here.”

“I thought you were studying psychology,” the redhead commented eyeing him and Jonathan shrugged.

“I like to think of myself as a scientist, a bit of a pioneer.”

Pamela relaxed, the tension beginning to ease from her shoulders and she stepped closer.

“You and I both, Jonny.”

Hesitantly, she touched his arm just briefly and they went silent for a moment before he suddenly remembered why he was there and reached for his phone.

“You got a phone?!” she exclaimed, a spark of hope rising, but he was quick to cut it.

“There’s no signal, don’t get your hopes up. _But_ I did download something before getting here to show you. I think you’ll like it.”

“What is it?” Pamela asked, already down with the sudden adrenalin that got into her. She sat on the bed and Jonathan did the same, she was quick to get closer.

“A video,” he answered, going through his gallery and turning the screen for her to see it better.

“Is this about cats? Cats’ videos always make the day better,” the girl observed and Jonny smiled to himself.

“Well, actually… sort of. It happened a few days ago and went _viral_ within hours. It was awesome.”

With no further explanations, he hit play. It started with the logo of one of those Youtube channels that make music out of viral interviews and then, for her surprise, none less than Selina was on the screen. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was wearing uniform, but she also had a face hard to forget. Besides, her name was on the foot, above “ _heroin of the day_ ”, and it made no sense.

_“Well, will you let me talk about it?” the Selina on the screen asked someone. “Then okay, what do you wanna know?”_

_“You were very brave today, miss Kyle,” a journalist kept out of the frame said. “Some would say reckless, but also brave. Where did it come from?”_

_“From seeing that there were three morons trying to steal a family diner before lunch,” she answered._

“She looks different,” Ivy said frowning, but not missing a word.

“Does she?”

“I think she gained a few pounds. Look at that awesome new rack, you go, Selly.”

_“How did you know you could take them down? I mean, you’re just a girl.”_

“Oh God,” Ivy breathed. “Death sentence.”

On the screen, Selina looked dead offended.

_“ **Just a girl**? Is that an excuse for anything? This is the twenty-first century, you think that being ‘a girl’ should come with ‘just’ on the front? Being a girl makes me a badass. I knew I could take them down because they were clearly idiots and I come from Gotham. There, you must always be two steps ahead, because there’s threat in every corner, and not dumb ones. There, we are full time **warriors**.” Finally, she breathed. “Plus, my dad took me and my sister to all kinds of self-defense classes.”_

Ivy laughed and something caught in her throat. Oh, Selly… what was she doing?

“Where is it?”

“Star City,” Jonathan answered.

“Are we-“

“No. We’re quite far, actually. That’s why I don’t come more often.”

On the screen, while the journalist talked, they showed scenes from various angles of Selina taking down three armed men like a boss.

“She’s awesome,” Ivy commented and then turned to Jonathan. “Don’t ever tell her that I said that.”

_“…besides being an extremely dangerous situation. The main question is, why would you pull such an act of heroism? Was that because of your colleagues or the children…?_

_“It wasn’t heroism,” Selina cut shaking her head like it was the stupidest thing and she wished to un-hear it. “It was just me making sure I’d get paid.”_

After that, the video followed with a song out of the interview, an actual piece of art with a catchy refrain that lasted forty glorious seconds and was brilliant, making Ivy genuinely laugh in months.

_“Tell us what brought you to Star City in the first place?” the journalist said, last thing on the video, and the camera zoomed in Selina’s face._

_“I got a lead, that’s why. Because my sister Ivy – Pamela Isley – was kidnapped and someone tipped that she was here, so I’ve been looking for her. If you know anything or want to know more about what I’m talking about, go to haveyouseenivy dot tumblr dot com and contact me. And V, if you’re watching this, I’m looking for you. I’ll find you, and we’re gonna go home.”_

It ended like that and Ivy couldn’t say a word, she just brought her knees to her chest and processed it, running the last bit in her mind again and again.

“They tipped her wrong,” she finally said, voice weak. “They are trying to diverge her.”

“But she’s clever and she’ll figure out,” Jonathan replied with conviction, trying to comfort her.

With sad eyes, Ivy looked up at him. The first time she had seen Jonathan Crane was when she went to the hospital to steal food and he was tripping. She was thirteen and he was tied to the bed, drowning in nightmares. She didn’t think much about what could be haunting him, just that there was salad, rice, fruit waiting to be eaten or to go to the trash. Stray dogs had been eating better than her at the time, so food was number one’s priority.

She didn’t know why she came back to his room. To be honest, the whole live nightmares prospect was rather scary, but she kept going, kept staying longer, until one day he had tofu, quinoa and spinach, so she ate right there, using the time to read his file; she found it all very interesting.

“Why did you decide to help me?” Ivy asked him as he didn’t break eye contact. After everything, Jonathan still had such kind eyes. _Her_ daddy issues turned her into a mean bitch most of the time, but he turned his table.

Breathing out a smile, Jonathan nodded just once.

“Because I remember you,” he told her. “Long days at the hospital just wishing for it to go away and a redhead girl who’d come every now and then. You eating an apple. And when you left a note in my folder, the days started to become clearer after the doctors found it, and you didn’t come anymore, but I remember. And I owe you.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Ivy whispered surprised and unexpectedly content.

Because, well, she actually did do something. It wasn’t so hard to figure out what was going on with him and how to stop it, really. They had to reboot him piece by piece and they were even trying to do that, but doing the wrong path. The fear inducer had hit Jonathan on the short way and he was 24/7 under stress, it was a miracle he was still alive. She copied his file, made some researching and wrote the note: _make it the long way_.

The long way of fear makes it easier to process. If they managed to make his thalamus send the fear signal to the long way instead of the short one, then his body would start to collaborate. With the cut of hormones, the night terrors would give him a break eventually. And it did.

Jonathan put his phone back in his pocket and withdraw a piece of folded paper, showed her the childish handwriting of those five words. Make it the long way.

“Of course you did,” he said right when that beeping came again. “I gotta go, my internship starts tomorrow and it’s quite the trip. I’ll see you next weekend, Pam.”

Ivy nodded. And then

“Jonny?” he looked from the door, just half turned to her as he waited for it to be opened. “You can call me Ivy.”

He nodded.

“’Til then, Ivy.”

 

“Are you going to take that or not?”

A couple of nights after that failed robbery, with the song of the video still ringing fresh in their minds, Thea decided that Selina deserved a night out just the two of them, but every few minutes Selina’s phone would buzz and she’d never take the calls. When Thea confronted her about it, she sighed.

“It’s my dad and he’s pissed, so I’m just trying to ignore him for a few days until he gets to the ‘ _it’s-okay-baby-just-don’t-do-this-again_ ’ phase.”

“Is that about the video?”

“It’s about everything. We’ve this rule: no heroes. And it’s no help that everyone has been using that word to describe me, though I’m far from it.”

The phone stopped for half a minute as the line to get in the club walked a couple more steps and then it started to ring again.

“Maybe you should take it, he must be worried.”

“Trust me: he only wants to give me a piece of his mind,” the younger girl assured, but for her distaste, the phone only seemed to ring louder, so Thea gave her a pointed look that made her sigh. “Okay. Wanna hear him rant? He’s funny when he’s mad.”

“Just take it already!”

Selina already was hitting the green button and prepared herself, leaving the phone on speaker.

“Hi daddy!” she greeted, trying to pull her cards from the start.

“ _Don’t you dare ‘daddy’ me, you little reckless thing!_ ” Jim barked and Selina smiled looking at Thea. He would never disappoint her in this. “ _Why were you ignoring me?_ ”

“Me ignoring _you_? That’s absurd!” she faked surprise and a bit of disbelief, as if it was the worst of the accusations that he’d even _think_ about it. “My phone died, that’s all.”

“ _Selina, you can’t lie to me_ ,” Jim informed evenly and the girl hummed.

“You don’t _know_ that, though.”

Instead of the awkward silence that would normally follow up whenever an argument like that would come out, Jim was ready for her.

“ _I’m disappointed, baby_ ,” he said in a sad tone, but she knew things would look up pretty fast, because he called her ‘baby’. “ _I thought we had agreed_ …”

“That there would be no heroes. I know. But dad, everyone got it wrong.”

“ _There are a million recordings of what happened, Selina, and I know what I saw. You need to cut this behavior **right now**_.”

She looked at Thea as in saying ‘ _see what I meant?_ ’ and the Queen girl shook her head bemused.

“ _Promise me you’ll stop with this nonsense. I know you’re trying to save money, but if they had robbed your work and you had to have your payment delayed, we’d send you some money_ ,” he continued.

“No way, dad. You’ve Barbie and babies are expensive.”

“ _I’m just saying that you’re not alone in this, accept that_.”

Selina sighed. She could reply with ‘ _Okay, Jesus_ ’ just to piss him off, but Jim was being surprisingly okay with everything, so she decided to be nice.

“Okay, dad. I promise,” she said, filled with sincerity and she could practically see him smiling on the other side. She was ready to hang up when he decided to speak again.

“ _Oh, one more thing!_ ” he said, and by his tone she was a hundred percent sure that he hadn’t forgotten it, just wanted to play her. He had something that she’d be interested in. “ _We got a thick envelope from Bruce. It’s for you, what should I do?_ ”

At the mention of Bruce’s name, she hit the speaker button so fast that it took Thea a couple of seconds to realize that Selina had made the call private.

“Send it to me, obviously,” she said.

“ _You think you deserve it?_ ” Jim questioned.

“Dad.”

“ _You think that shipping is cheap?_ ”

“ ** _Figure it out!_** ”

On the other side of the line, Jim Gordon laughed.

Once inside the club, the music was loud and the lights were something Kanye West would be proud of. It was true that Selina had to be spending her time figuring out a way to get some quick money to do the abortion by the end of the week, but Thea was right, she needed to relax a bit, play all the tricks Barbara passed along to her and V, and the ones she figured out by herself to get a good time. She deserved it, if she was going to feel sick for a few days, so she danced and jumped in her high heels, letting her body sweat.

Selina had found a dark green cropped and high waist black skirt in her bags that still fit (and probably would for a while, she had a feeling they were Ivy’s) and that was her outfit of the night. She thought that the short skirt was the reason why she was attracting so many looks, but when she went to the bar to get some water, she found out that not exactly.

“You are that vigilante girl,” the barista said, giving her the water she asked and Selina sighed. Vigilante was too much.

“You mistake me for someone who’d give a fuck,” she tried to diverge, but he wasn’t having it.

“I saw your face on TV, Kitty,” he insisted and she rested her water bottle on the counter dead staring him.

“Then you know you shouldn’t fuck with me.”

As the barista stepped back wisely giving her some space, Selina eavesdropped a conversation going on two chairs from her seat. There were three guys, one of them was lean and charming, while the other two looked like the punks the Penguin had recruited on his first days of crime lord. They were talking not so quietly about a harvest they needed done and the guy – apparently a reaper of the best – was flatly denying.

“Come one, Winger, we need this done in forty-eight hours!”

Winger, Selina thought, so obvious. Zero for creativity.

“I’m not doing it, not for all the money in the world,” he replied for what looked like the hundredth time. “You think I’d like to end up like one of _your_ reapers?”

“You wouldn’t!” one of the guys, the one that looked more desperate, said. “The Green Arrow hadn’t been able to catch you yet.”

“And that’s just the kind of job that will land my ass right on his lap! For fuck’s sake, Sniff, _diamonds_? For the black market? Don’t they have a whole solid base in Africa for that?”

Selina would have dropped it to go find Thea, who had disappeared with a blond guy, and it was true that she had just promised Jim not to get involved in anything, but that Winger guy had just used _a lot_ of her magic words to keep her interested. Instead of leaving, she asked for a drink she wouldn’t drink and listened a bit more.

“Not for these ones. These have a very specific market and if you get the right gem, the boss will pay you on the spot. I’m talking seven digits here, Winger.”

Seven digits! If Selina had that much money, she’d have enough to pay the illegal abortion and probably buy Ivy back from whoever took her! She prepared to make her move, though she didn’t have a plan yet, and kept listening.

“We already sent the data to your cloud, all you have to do is the job.”

Winger checked his phone and the first thing he saw made him put it down again with an annoyed look on his face.

“The docks? Are you for real? It’s one of the places better secured by the Green Arrow! No, forget it, I’m not taking chances.”

Winger stood up ready to leave and Sniff and the other guy stood up as well, both looking like they had signed death sentences. Interesting.

“Millions, Winger. _Millions_!”

“Nope,” the reaper said, popping the final syllable loudly and turning his back to them, waking in her direction. Selina was seeing all that through the corner of her eyes while she pretended to be seriously checking her phone, as if someone was supposed to contact her. “Find someone stupid enough, I’m out.”

Sniff and his friend immediately started to talk, trying to come up with something, but Selina went to Winger and bumped onto him, dropping her drink in the process and catching his attention with one shy gesture that seemed to be the universal way of convincing men in the first contact. Damn, Ivy was right, wasn’t she? Men _are_ so stupid.

“I’m sorry, I’m just so distracted,” she managed to stumble the words, as if it was such a shame to embarrass herself in front of him. “I, uh- my friend was supposed to meet me here, but I’ve been waiting and… she’s my ride. I can’t lose her in the crowd!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Winger assured her, flashing a charming smile. “What’s her name? Where did you last saw her?”

“Hm…” best liars always tell the truth, she repeated to herself. “Thea. I saw her talking to her ex somewhere around here, but then… I mean, a quickie is supposed to be quick, right?”

“Yeah, but how would you define ‘quick’?” he asked, not at all bothered that she had dropped Martini in his fine shirt. He was in flirt mood now and she could use it in her favor.

“Five minutes top?” she answered, making sure to smile and blush just a little.

“Five minutes, really?”

Selina hummed.

There _was_ this time she went to Bruce and Sam’s school. She was supposed to meet Sam, because he was going to show her the new version of the fabric he and Bruce were developing before they’d go for their date. That project was going on for almost a year, and when Selina got to the labs, it was the billionaire that she found there. After a tense talk, they locked themselves in the chemical room for about eight minutes that could be described as transcendental. They doubt Sam ever found out, but those were the days after everything happened and no one was no one’s, so she doubted it’d matter.

Coming to think about it, that was the quickest she’d ever gotten and Bruce was freshly fifteen. You can count a fifteen years old boy to be fast.

“- _ish_ ,” she finally replied him. She wanted that phone of his, so maybe he could get to it already.

“I’m Klade Winger,” he offered his hand and she took it.

“Selina Kyle.”

A spark of recognition flashed in his dark eyes. She was sure he’d say something annoying like ‘ _the girl from the video!_ ’, but he shut it just in time. Instead, he started to very blatantly go on about quickies and how he could teach her a few techniques that she actually agreed quite fast, because that phone (!); so they headed to the top back bar, where the empty toilets, phone booths and loveseats were, and she knew that somethings were supposed to happen, but then came Ivy’s voice almost two complete years before shouting through the phone and she clicked.

Her quickest hadn’t been with Bruce. It hadn’t.

 _Just because you knew it could happen, it doesn’t make it okay!_ – Ivy had said.

“Stop.” Selina demanded. Winger, pressing her against the wall of the booth, didn’t move or changed his approach, so she used both hands to push him away. “I said _stop_! Get off me.”

Because his hands on her body reminded her so much of other demanding hands it made it hard to breathe.

Winger didn’t stop, so she stopped him. Collecting all her will and anger, it took Selina two full minutes to knock him unconscious and another one to search all his pockets. She left his documents and money behind and only took the phone before going Lisbeth Salander on him.

Selina made sure he’d stay unconscious, took off his shirt and wrote some words on his chest; then she started to drag him from the booth. Surprisingly enough, Thea was there looking for her.

“What the hell are you doing?” the older girl asked, partially scared. She had read his chest and Selina was taking the ribbons from the loveseats.

“Help me with it, will you?”

Thea observed as Selina knotted his hands to a higher pole, his back to the dancefloor below. That back bar was practically empty, but it would get more people when the change of DJs were to happen, which would be in about ten minutes, so finally she decided to help.

“Just because I really like that book,” she said under her breath, making sure that his hands were firmly knotted while Selina removed his pants. Thea scoffed when she checked him out. “His dick really is small. For someone with such reputation, we’d think Klade was better equipped.”

Both girls stepped back, arms crossed.

“He must know what to do with it,” Selina commented and Thea frowned, reading the words again in red lipstick, and then looking at the teen, who didn’t even addressed her to say “I didn’t wait to find out. I think that ‘no’ was more important to understand.” She looked at Thea then, her expression different, and asked the most unexpected thing. “Do you know anyone who’d have a sewing machine?”

The following day, while Klade Winger was only beginning to figure out how to pick the pieces of his dignity and put them back together, Selina had the day off and a bunch of special Kevlar clothes waiting for her on her bed. She had a pair of pants, a jacket with a hoodie, some tank tops and gloves.

That special Kevlar was developed by Bruce and Sam with Wayne Tech and it was completely different from the bulletproof vests she used before. The fabric resembled leather and its nanotechnology made it light and still bulletproof without needing all those layers. Theoretically. She hadn’t tried the bullets yet, and wasn’t planning to so soon. All she could do was hope.

“What would Beyoncé do?” she asked herself going through every single piece again, trying to come up with something. If she wanted all those seven digits in her account, she’d need to suit up to not be recognized as the “girl from the video”, and she had to come up with something fast.

With the data from Winger’s phone uploaded to another device, Selina had all the information she needed to get in and out. If those mobsters were right about everything they gathered, she’d hardly have problems to get the job done; she was small, agile and the best reaper of Gotham ever since she was fourteen. She started sewing (in Thea’s own sewing machine, who’d ever guess?), molding the clothes into something that’d help her move with ease and not be easily detectable.

Before the sun was down, Selina left her loft wearing her Kevlar pants, tank top, jacket and low leather boots – her favorite pair. She got in her car caring a medium black bag and drove away, parking in a strategical place, triangulating with the docks and the crime lord’s place. That was another thing Star City had in common with Gotham: the mob lords were untouchable, even though everyone knew where to find them.

She walked for several blocks and found a blind spot at a bar where she changed a few things, emptying her black bag that once was two tank tops. Selina wasn’t carrying anything fancy, just a couple of knives, a laser pen Captain Barnes gave her the previous Christmas for Secret Santa, the diamond compass she took from Bruce when they still were kids, goggles, her gloves.

By the time she got to the docks, with all its guards and cameras, Selina already had put her hood up, a pair of goggles on her face. She had braided her hair and the tight hood made it look like she had tiny cat ears.

The thing about Selina Kyle was that she was weightless, silent, invisible, flexible and she’d be able to hit you before you even noticed. Her approach technique was different than anyone’s and even though she had never done a work that big – the gem they wanted was particularly beautiful, she almost felt bad having to give it to the mob – she felt confident about it.

That Sniff guy had told Winger that they needed someone fresh to do that job and no one was fresher than herself. Within the hour, the job was done. Selina walked away on the shadows, she had put every single guard to sleep on her way in, and headed to the mob’s place after making a phone call.

“ _Winger?_ ” the person that picked it up said first thing.

“Not Winger. I’ve the gem, though. Where do I drop it to get my paycheck?”

“ _You’ve got the gem?_ ” the person asked in a dubious tone.

“I can put it back if you don’t want it. Or negotiate with the black market myself.”

“ _Hold on_.”

She did. It took them forty-two seconds to get back at her with the address.

The diamond was the size of Selina’s palm, shiny and almost blueish, so transparent it was. Breathtaking. She put it on the table of the crime lord with Winger’s phone by its side, the number of the account she used with Penguin’s men written on its open notepad.

“Who are you?” the mobster asked with a thick accent. He was Finnish. She didn’t know there was such a thing as a Finnish mob, but whatever.

“What do you care?” Selina hadn’t been dumb enough to take the mask off.

“How did you know about this?”

She smiled.

“This guy Winger was knotted to a bar with his dick out, something about him being a rapist written on his chest? All his things were by his feet, including this,” she pointed the phone. “Not so hard to decode.”

“So you just went and did the job for him?”

“Nah, I did it for me. Could use the extra money.”

The teen could see that her relaxed posture annoyed all those men and she hardly cared. There were six in that room, she could handle them. Probably. The crime lord took the diamond from the table and analyzed it for a boring three minutes, and then looked up at her.

“Every single reaper on our contacts, how many do we have?” he asked no one in particular and someone mumbled a number. “About twenty. And none capable of doing a simple job. Half of them found themselves in prison, the other half is too scared to try. But a girl sneaks in on the last night and just does it. What are you up to?”

Selina didn’t break a sweat. Please, she once was the right arm of Fish Mooney and the Penguin, and even though she didn’t have Butch or Helzinger behind her, she was good at solo missions.

“I heard you were paying four million for this job, but I also know that this gem is worth four times more, maybe five if you’re lucky enough. So I think, since I was the ONLY one that had the job done and was nice enough to bring it to _you_ , I deserve eight million. I’m feeling generous, though. I can take… six.”

She lighted up the screen of the phone, making the account visible again and waited.

“Six million?” he echoed, sounding amused. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t. But who cares? As long as you pay me. Now.”

“Maybe I’d like to hire you. What’s your name?”

Selina borderline laughed.

“How about Money Driven Whore?” she said. “That’s what you’ll call me once I leave, right? Just transfer the cash and we’re all good.”

He put the gem back on the table and opened his laptop with a smile that was there since she answered his last question.

“I like you, kiddo,” he said, checking the phone and making the transfer. “I don’t know if it was luck, but you might have a bright future in crime. You sure you don’t want the connection?”

She didn’t answer. He turned the computer so she could see the transition and then nodded.

“Now tell me, what makes you so sure that we won’t follow you or kill you?”

Selina didn’t care, really, because she was done there. The money was hers. Millionaire. So she turned back, headed to the door.

“You can’t afford to lose the ‘trust’ of the best reaper you’ve ever seen, that’s how.”

And okay, it was _very_ scary, she could admit now. But she left the place with a full bank account that would make her life easy for several years, she wouldn’t even need to think about the other stones, the smaller ones she took and hid in secret pockets of her bag. And okay, it took a _long_ time to mislead the men sent to follow her, but she finally did it, right in time for the police to make their move about the robbery. _That_ ’s how you make a robbery.

She found her blind spot, removed layers, unbraided her hair and headed for her car, after checking if the money really did fall in her account. If it hadn’t, she’d make some calls to a certain lawyer and make it even, but all was fine. From her phone, in a bar’s toilet, Selina dispersed the money into smaller accounts, just to make sure and even set to make anonymous donations to the Gordon family account every two months.

There was a nice breeze in the air and Selina started to sort out what to do first as she walked to her car. Schedule the abortion to the end of the week was the priority. Leave Star City in the first opportunity was number two-

“That was a close call,” someone said coming from an alley right before where her T-Bird was parked, and making her jump back, ready to fight. “Hi Cat, long time, no see.”

Selina breathed out.

“Kelly?”

For a long time, she thought Kelly was dead, but she had seen his name along the many packages she’d gotten over the years. The Tarshish club in Smallville, commanded by his wife, was the last proof to know that he was fine.

“Hi kid,” he said with a small smile. “You look different.”

“It’s been three years.”

He nodded.

“Yes, it has.”

She waited and he said it again.

“It was a close call tonight.”

“What, you’re God now?” she mocked, but she knew. “I needed the money.”

“You’re no good for anyone in prison,” he argued.

“ _I needed the money_ ,” she echoed.

“No, you didn’t,” he cut her rather sharply. “And you know it. You’ve made your decisions ages ago, when you didn’t tell him, and it’s alright.”

“Alright?” Selina asked confused. “To whom?”

“To us,” Kelly answered, softer this time. “This job you took today… you just like the rush.”

It was true, sort of. Beating those robbers was a hell lot of fun.

“I can’t have it,” she said low, her hand going to her venter. “It’s too dangerous.”

“We know,” Kelly replied. “But we are here for you, Selina. Fish, she will help you, if you let her. We all will.”

“My dad will kill me.”

“Now, that’s an exaggeration.”

She sighed. That morning, she looked in the mirror and saw that her belly had started to point out. She still couldn’t feel it move, it was too soon. Could she really be able to abort it? If Kelly hadn’t showed up to slow her down, would she go through with it?

“We know you’re looking for Ivy, we are trying to help, but like you all we have are missing pieces,” Kelly continued interrupting her line of thoughts. “We’ll do everything we can, Selina, and Fish will come for you herself when the time comes. We got you.”

She nodded.

“I know.”

“Do you trust us?”

“Yeah.”

It was Kelly’s turn to nod.

“Keep checking your mail.”

He turned back to the alley.

“Don’t you want a ride?” she offered and he smiled.

“It’s alright, Kitten. Go rest.”

“See you soon,” Selina said as a goodbye and then got into her car at last, driving back to her loft. She had to work the following morning, after all. And it was true, she trusted the Pond, trusted _Fish_.

So she rolled with it, even if it meant keep her baby. It was meant for greatness, she knew, and perhaps that was what scared her the most, but it was hers. Her little Wayne.


	8. A CHAPTER OF DIRECTION

There was something reassuring about the cinnamon smell of the hot beverages in front of the teen girls, the cappuccino's lightning in the middle of the milk foam looking extra cheerful. It was a sunny day in Central City, but after the official reopening of S.T.A.R. Labs, Selina and Ivy had to try the city's most famous drink, no matter the temperatures.

"I can tell that you already love this place," Selina observed, watching Ivy. From where she was, the light coming from the glass doors made the redhead bright with colors, and she sighed with a smile.

"I kind of am," Ivy admitted and sipped her Flash cinnamon cappuccino before continuing. "I mean, look at this place! It's so bright and charming, how can you not like it?"

"By having furry heart, I guess," replied Selina, taking a sip of her own beverage. "Which I probably do."

"Bullshit," cut Ivy, more of a statement. "You like to pretend to be all tough, but we all know you're a big, fat house cat."

Selina crisped her eyes.

"How dare you spill my secret!"

Instead of laughing out loud or bringing up another retort, the girls only exchanged a look and a smile. It was their second year officially as "family", but Ivy and Selina had come a long way. Their understanding of one another made sisterhood at its best: they knew how to cheer up and how to bring down. During that sunny day of September, so pretty to many nerds across America, they didn't feel like bringing anyone down.

"Seriously, though," Ivy continued after they finished their Flashes, her arm hooked on Selina's, even though no one would ever take them as arm-on-arm girls back home, as they left the place. "Do you think you could ever live here?"

"With all the metahuman and stuff?" Ivy nodded. They pushed the door open at the same time. "I don't know. Maybe a summer house by the lake."

There wasn't no summer house by the lake for Selina to rent at the beginning of the following September, but even that couldn't take that cinematographic aspect of 'smell like pumpkin and asks for more cappuccinos than the system should support' the city had, and Central City still was the best place to read and reread the letter Bruce had sent her.

He was in China and said he was writing instead of calling because he still wasn't strong enough to hear her voice and not book the next flight back home. He didn't tell her before, but he had been planning to travel for a long time, just not exactly like that. He said that he was going to see all the places he wanted to see and learn all he needed to learn, that he already was doing that all in order to find himself – the other half, he meant, the one that wasn't sure what home was.

 _I love you_ , he wrote. Three words that they agreed not to say, but he broke that rule anyway. _I love you and I know you love me and I'll come home soon… as soon as possible. I love you because you know me so well and that's how I know you'll be alright while I'm gone._

Selina had lost track of how many times she had read that paragraph holding the letter as well as one of the photos he sent, her other hand caressing her growing bump.

"Selina?" a familiar voice called, and she put the letter down, hiding the photo, just to see none less than Felicity Smoak standing there.

"Are you stalking me? I can leave the Star City, you know," the teen said and the hacker seemed to stumble on her words. "I'm joking. Though I do can leave it."

Felicity let out a breath.

"Right. Kids," she shook her head. "I didn't expect to see you here, I thought you went home.

"Nah," Selina shook her head. "Still looking for V."

" _Here_?" she asked, a mix of curiosity and confusion in her voice, so the teen folded the letter, shoved it in one of the bags by her feet, sat straighter holding her cappuccino with both hands.

"I need to talk to Dr. Caitlin Snow-Reynolds," she admitted and the hacker's eyebrows went up.

"Why?" she asked. "Do you think she knows where your sister is?"

"Not exactly," Selina said slow, leaning forward. She had no need to explain herself to anyone that didn't need to know about her cases, but Felicity was the only known face she had seen in three days. Besides, she was dying to share it with someone ever since Jim sent her a whole set of GCPD files to analyze. "I think that there's something going on, something big. But all I have are bits and pieces and maybe she could help me figure out some things. I don't know, it's a long shot, but what do I have to lose?"

Surprisingly enough, Felicity smiled looking at something behind her. Jitters was packed and loud that lunch.

"Well, isn't it your lucky day?" she said and Selina looked up from her drink confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Caitlin happens to be a good friend of mine, little one," announced Felicity, making the teen cock her head.

"No shit. Do all nerds have like a secret whatsapp group or something?"

The hacker laughed.

"Something like that. Well, Cait is right there," she pointed. "I can introduce you."

Selina looked over the table Felicity had just pointed, packed with people – three guys and two girls. One, she knew, was Iris West, from the news. The other, with her back to them, should be Caitlin. She had only seen the doctor once, the previous year, from a fair distance and in small photos of articles she read.

"Would you do that?" she asked. She was planning on showing up at the front desk first thing on Monday and trying her luck like she did back in Gotham, but this short cut could make things much easier.

"Of course!" the older girl exclaimed. "Your conspiracy theory got me curious. Come on."

She helped Selina with her bags, donuts and mug, lead her to the packed table.

"I should've left those in the car, but I really needed to go pee and Jitters was closer," Selina explained.

"Yeah, that bump… you look very pregnant now."

"I know! Nothing fits me anymore, that's why I had to buy so many stuff-"

"Hey guys, I'm back," Felicity said, putting the bags on the floor next to the only empty chair of the table and five pairs of eyes looked at them. "This is Selina Kyle, the girl I told you all about," she continued and the teen waved as they greeted her with ' _hi_ 's and ' _we're full time warriors_ ' in the tuned version of that catchy song, but the next thing the hacker said caught the girl off guard. "Bruce Wayne's girlfriend."

With her lungs suddenly crashing, Selina turned to the blonde.

"What?" she didn't understand why Felicity was smiling.

"Come on, you came at me really strong, don't you think I'd do some digging? I'm a hacker, after all, and it wasn't something so hard to find out. You better believe me when I say that the paparazzi _love_ Wayne's affairs and you weren't put aside."

Taken aback, Selina looked around, the eyes of the table looking at her curiously.

"What else do you know?" she asked, feeling her ears ring. Felicity shrugged.

"You were taken under Jim Gordon's care since you were fourteen, his first year as a Gotham rookie. You were a witness under protection, lived at the Wayne Manor for a while, was one of the protégées of Fish Mooney and later of the Penguin, gave Jerome Valeska a nasty scar…"

"Wait, how could you know _that_?" the girl accused. That file was supposed to be gone.

"That one was harder, I admit. Your file is full of holes, and I think it has to do with the fact that you have some connections at the GCPD, but-"

Selina stepped back, looking at all those half-known faces. It was a trap, she felt corned. And there wasn't much she could do in that situation but leave, it was her best option.

"This is a bad idea, I should go."

At that, Felicity closed her mouth and Selina heard a lot of ' _why_ 's and ' _but you just got here_ 's.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," tried the blonde, but the teen had her eyes on the door, her cappuccino and donut forgotten on the table as she tried to take all the bags at once. "Selina, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say so much."

"Is that something you read on my file as well?" accused the girl and didn't leave space for replies. "No, I really should just-" she fumbled with the bags and a pair of small hands held hers.

"Is that about your past?" the person asked. It was Iris. "Because you shouldn't worry about that, we partner with Captain Cold all the time."

"We?" Selina echoed, trying to breathe and they all started to lie at the same time very badly.

"Besides," Felicity talked over them. "Cait is right here and you wanted to talk to her, didn't you?"

Selina nodded, taking a few deep breaths. It was true, she did want to talk to Caitlin. She put down her bags again, but her eyes still were worried about the exit door right in front of her.

"Okay, let us introduce ourselves properly," said Iris, going back between a black guy and Barry Allen. "I'm Iris, this is my brother Wally and this is my fiancée Barry. Cisco and Caitlin," she pointed the two in front of her and when Selina shook Cisco's hand, he looked a little… weird.

"You used to come here with your sister," he said dreamingly. Not a question, but a statement, and the girl shook her head.

"No, we only came once, last year, when S.T.A.R. Labs was reopened."

"Oh, you were there?" Caitlin asked sweetly and Selina shrugged.

"Ivy is a big nerd."

"And is it Ivy that you want to find?"

"Well, you all seem to know that song," that damn song.

"Are you kidding me?" Cisco asked. "That's my _ringtone_ ," some of them laughed. Selina wouldn't admit even under torture, but she had the song in her phone as well.

"It's Thea's also," Felicity said. "Oliver wants to _die_."

"His sense of humor is wack," Wally commented, getting a few agreements. They all looked like such a cohesive group of friends. The only people Selina was cohesive with were all over the place.

Caitlin was looking at her.

"You think I could help?" the teen nodded. "Sit down and tell me how."

She sat and only then noticed that Felicity had pulled another chair for herself. Selina looked for her phone in her purse already starting to explain what led her there.

"So, I've been reading your articles about that Dorrance guy you treated and in the last one you released the components of the drug that were in his system, mentioned that you guys tried to replicate it to help him, right?"

"That's right."

"Among the symptoms you said the drug caused, there was aggressiveness, lungs malfunction, low levels of calcium…"

They all exchanged a look before she continued.

"There was something about it that was bugging me, so I sent the article to my dad and he helped me figure it out," she found what she was looking for and gave the phone to the doctor. "Take a look at that and tell me if it seems familiar."

Quickly, Caitlin scanned the file frowning, the others were silent and paying attention with their mugs.

"Where did you get that?" Caitlin asked worried.

"Looks very alike, right?" replied Selina and the doc agreed. "Almost four years ago, this drug took the streets of Gotham, killing a lot of people. Most of them were crack heads, but the curious part was that this drug caused a sudden burst of strength and aggressiveness to the person who'd take it. And then their body would collapse and they'd die because of the calcium of their system was totally consumed. The drug's name was Viper."

Caitlin nodded soberly, waiting for her to continue and passed the phone to Cisco.

"Viper was created by this guy Stan Potolsky, that worked at WellZyn, a part of Wayne Enterprises."

Half of the people on that table scoffed.

"Good luck finding anything on them," Barry commented. "Wayne Enterprises is like a black hole."

"I know. My dad worked on this case at the time and he couldn't find anything, even with Potolsky's leads. But it's been some time and I happen to know a few people that could help me a bit."

"Your boyfriend?" asked Wally.

"No," Selina answered in a tone that suggested that that was such a bad guess. He help actually came from Alfred and Lucius, but she wouldn't give that away. "That's not the point, focus, please. Dad said that when they tried to find out what WellZyn was on to, they only got dead ends. The list of employees is not very long, all their scientists and researchers are kept secret and they have an odd connection to owls. _But_ we do managed to find out that Potolsky had a counselor, a botanist that he consulted at every decision made."

She looked around to see if everyone had caught up.

"Now, I don't know if you remember, but apparently, Dorrance came to America under the instructions of a botanist that no one knew who was or how he looked like, just like this counselor of WellZyn, am I wrong?"

"You raise a good point," Cisco said thoughtfully. "But what does it have to do with your sister?"

That was where things get even more interesting. Selina took her phone back – it was with Iris now, though she didn't know how exactly the journalist could help – and looked for the archives she wanted.

"Jerome said that the car in which V was taken had a sticker on it and he didn't give many details to _me_ , but the drawing he made for Harleen about it last week helped a lot," she showed the drawing to them, a circle of twisted twigs with a leaf inside. "This is the drawing," and then she passed to the next. "And that's the symbol of the International Biennial Botanic Fair for Old and New Brilliant Minds that was held in Smallville this year. Ivy used to talk about it all the time when it was happening, how her teacher took some students with him and how she'd be able to go in a couple of years. I've a feeling this botanist counselor is one of the brilliant minds of the fair, like the people that took V."

"And how would _we help_?" asked Barry, looking at her in a way the girl could swear he was reading her soul. Why wouldn't he, though? The lab was his, he had to make sure he knew what he was getting everyone into.

"Going CSI on that shit," she explained. "You already cracked half of the puzzle. And I've began looking around, but I'm not a hacker, I can't crack police's documents. Plus, there's no way my dad can do it, because GCPD is a mess, the layers are too thick and he'd end up owing too many favors. So… maybe, if you do those cross of information trick of figuring out where this and that is from, maybe we can find a location or whatever. Something."

"I suppose we can do that," Caitlin said, looking at Barry.

"Wait, though," interrupted Wally. "Can't you that from home? Contact us and everything, we'd get the car going. There's nowhere more comfortable than home."

Selina shrugged.

"The favors, I don't like to owe them. Gotham is a dumpster, I can literally count the good guys in one hand and there's no way we'd dig WellZyn there without dying in the process. Besides, I can't go home. And, it's fucking S.T.A.R. Labs, who wouldn't want to be here?"

Wally didn't focus on the right parts, though.

"Why can't you go home?" he pressed and Iris poked him to stop, but Selina answered anyway.

"Because Ivy is not with me," and before she could stop her mouth. "And because my dad doesn't know about this."

A few jaws dropped when she pointed at her belly.

"You didn't tell me that!" exclaimed Felicity.

"Teenage drama! I didn't witness that in such a long time," mused Iris. They all seemed way too excited for Selina's taste.

"Tell us," Cisco asked. "Is that a I-will-be-kicked-out-of-the-house situation or because it's a Wayne baby?"

"Who said it's a Wayne baby?" she retorted.

"Oh, it's definitely a Wayne baby," said Felicity with finality and they all looked at her. "Uh, chronology. Come on, your life is fascinating. And the paparazzi, I mentioned them."

"No, let me try," interrupted Barry. "Your dad doesn't approve your _romance_?" he said and she laughed.

"No, he loves Bruce. But he wasn't much of a fan of all the sex we had, always the 'USE PROTECTION' kind of dad. I bet he'd prefer I turned lesbian like V," she wondered. "Though V is not _lesbian_. Anyway. Yeah, it's a Wayne, but you guys need to promise not run your mouths about it, it's a secret. My plan is to figure out what to do once it's born, so," she gestured the zip over her mouth and got a few nods of agreement.

"It?" Iris echoed. "You don't know the sex yet?"

Selina hummed, trying not to look at anyone.

"Selina, have you seen a doctor?" asked Caitlin.

"I don't really trust doctors," the teen admitted, despite the fact she had just spilled a lot of info for a bunch of them. "Except one. But she's dad's ex and a real good friend of Alfred, so… yeah, no way."

"I say the same," cut the doctor seeming offended and she stood up. "Come with me, we'll take a look at this baby right now. You can't go on as you please, this is important!"

"I've been reading books," Selina said, still well sat in her chair, but everyone was standing up.

"Not an option. You have another doctor to trust now," Caitlin replied. "Now let's go."

"I'm not going to a clinic."

Wally scoffed.

"Not a clinic, silly. S.T.A.R. Labs."

[…]

Ivy Pepper didn't like Bruce Wayne and she was very good at explaining why. First of all, he was a Wayne and the Waynes were the reason why her mom wasn't around anymore. He was cute and nice, which probably revealed some personality flaws. And he was deadly rich, which – as a kid from the streets she knew – meant that, for him, everything was dispensable. Even people.

But the main reason why Ivy didn't like Bruce was because of Selina. And she said that a thousand times in a thousand different ways, the more common was the obvious.

"He's a slut," back when they girls shared a bath, as she tried to justify why Selina was better off without him anyway.

"You don't need to tell me that," the older girl had said. She knew it. And Ivy knew that she knew it, but it also made no difference, so she always had to add another argument, like

"Friends with benefits is a male invention to have a girl in their beds without having to waste money on relationship's things. Like… dates and gifts."

"You're making this up."

"Besides, the main 'benefit' is professional sex without payment. I say you start charging him. With the amount of sex you two have, you'd be the billionaire pretty soon."

"Stop implying that I'm a whore."

"You're right, you're not," she thought for a second or two. "He is. Maybe _you_ should start paying him."

Which, well, at least made Selina laugh for a good half-hour. But also didn't keep the Brulina thing from happening, so sometimes she had to go dirty, like the first argument she ever used, back in the days when she was thirteen and Selina was trying on pretty dresses for a charity ball, right before Barbara was taken from them.

"He's gonna break your heart, you know?"

"What heart?" Selina replied that day, but her answer changed as the years passed. Last time, it was "He wouldn't do that again."

"You love him," Ivy told her one of the last times they had a fight. "He cheats on you and you love him all the same. Don't you see how damaging it is?"

"You don't know him," Selina tried to argue.

"I don't need to, Selly, don't give me that crap. He's toying you and every single girl he's sleeping with! You two can last as long as you last, but don't you think you'll be the one walking hand-in-hand with him at last, enjoying his normal rich life. Someone else will. And he'll marry someone else, leaving you to watch from the corner. You know why? Because out of this _thing_ you two have, you are the one who ends up not getting the credit you deserve."

"I don't love him, though," said Selina and Ivy scoffed. "You're wrong."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that and maybe it'll stop. The love, I mean. And don't think I'll be around to pick up the pieces when it happens again."

Ivy was good at hitting where it hurt best, and Selina should be used to it. In some ways she was, because she'd never let it show which sensitive spot was hit, and she was pretty tough. Stronger than last time, also. It was a fact that Selina liked to brag about how incapable of doing any harm Bruce was, but that one time was pretty bad.

Right now, things weren't looking very good either, because she was sat on a lab bed waiting to take a look at the kicker Wayne in her belly without its father with her, and for twice, Ivy was right, her heart was a little broken.

"Could you lay down, please?" requested Caitlin and Selina followed. She had asked Felicity to stay. _You remind me of my mom_ , she had said when asked why. Not her biological one, but Babs. Selina had gone with Barbara in every scan, practically every appointment.

Cisco pushed a big screen a few feet from the bed in an angle that was good for both Selina and the doctor to see and started to type some things in the computer attached to it.

"It's a bit cold," apologized Cait, pushing Selina's wool shirt until right below her breasts, exposing her round baby bump and then she splashed some gel – cold, indeed – to poke around with the magic scan stick. "Hold on… oh, look at that!"

"Wow!" Selina exclaimed staring at the screen. When Barbara made scans, the image was yellow and weird, but this was some real technology going on, because even though it was in shades of blue, she could tell damn right exactly how her baby was. "Oh God, that's Bruce's nose. I was hoping it wouldn't have his nose."

"I doubt you care about Bruce's nose on Bruce," teased Felicity touching her shoulder. Everyone's eyes were on the screen, on its corner, some numbers and calculations were showing up as Caitlin poked the baby, getting it to show the arms and hands, legs, knees, feet.

"I don't. But poor kid with that damn Wayne nose passed down!" they laughed. "What's up with the numbers?"

"The computer is calculating the sizes and weight of your baby," Cisco explained. You're twenty to twenty-one weeks far-"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Did you pick a name yet?" Caitlin asked instead.

"Sarah or Connor."

Cisco laughed.

"You, young lady, have awesome taste in movies."

"I know, right?" she agreed.

"Okay, so…" Cait continued. "Your baby weights 0,370 kilograms, which's a little over ¾ of a pound. He's 11 inches long, that's a big boy."

Selina let out something between a gasp and a sigh.

"He," she echoed. "Of course it's a boy," he was moving, probably bothered with all that poking, and now she could see his profile. Yep, definitely the Wayne nose. And not only that. "Look at that jaw. Damn, he's gonna look so much like his father."

"Is it bad?" Felicity asked, but before she could get any answer, the sound of a heartbeat filled the room. _Connor_ 's heartbeat. And Selina couldn't tear her eyes from the screen.

"Strong heart," Caitlin commented and the teen took a deep breath that filled her eyes with tears that she was fast to hide with her hands.

"Oh, my God," she breathed. "Oh God, what am I gonna do?"

Because, really, what a plan did she have? Give away a _Wayne_ to adoption and risk to have him in the system she so much hated? Or go back to Gotham nine months later with a boy that dangerously looked like the richest guy of the country, be killed on an alley because of it or worst? And what about the constant 'I knew this would happen' look on Jim's face whenever he looked at her?

No, going back to Gotham wasn't even an option. And after she got pass that, what else she could do? Kelly said the Pond had her back, but what kind of guarantee was that?

"I thought you were figuring out as you go," Felicity reminded her, and the girl took a few deep breaths.

"I'm fine," she assured, even though she wasn't yet. The sound of the baby's heart was cut and the room was silent. "I'm fine."

"We're printing Connor's first photo for you," said Caitlin with a kind smile. Selina didn't know what she did to deserve such people around her. It felt like such an irony.

"Thanks."

"That's it, you had your first prenatal appointment," the doctor gave her a piece of cloth to wipe the gel off.

"The name you chose," Cisco said, getting closer. "is genius. I wish I had had kids already to think of it first."

Selina smiled and she saw Caitlin behind him shake her head.

"Don't mind him, he's a name freak," she said, opening a door that led to a room different than the one they came from. It had computers all around and looked a lot like a control room from _Star Trek_.

Selina knew that S.T.A.R. Labs worked with the Flash, and being there felt quite amazing. The Flash was actually one of the super heroes she didn't despise. Completely.

"You know what I'm curious about?" Felicity asked as they sat in chairs scattered around the room. Barry was on a corner looking through the GCPD files she had gave them. The actual head of S.T.A.R. Labs working on her case himself. Ivy would so freak out. "How did you get Klade to drop the charges? Laurel said he was so focused on suing you, but then just gave up."

Selina was smiling, but not the goofy kind of smile. The smile of someone who had had her share of fun and no one knew about.

"Talked some sense into him," she answered and the hacker's eyebrows went up.

"Talk? You talked Klade Winger out of something? _How_?! I mean, I've seen a lot of people, Oliver especially, try to reason with him with little to no success."

Shrugging, Selina spun in her chair lazily, her feet up the seat.

"Of course he couldn't. You know men with their big egos and fragile masculinity. They ain't taught how to target their fellas' weak points, that's why they think they are good at everything, even though they clearly ain't. But women are born to be ruthless. We learn where to hit from a very young age, it's just that we usually target the wrong people."

"You hit him in his reputation."

The teen nodded.

"Twice," she confirmed. "At the club and after he served me."

"Is that why he swears on his life that you were the one who stole those diamonds?" asked Felicity, making some heads snap up.

" _What_?" Wally asked, the only person paying attention from the beginning, since the others were trying to find a pattern on the Viper and Dorrance's drug, talking science on the corner until the words 'stole' and 'diamonds' were put together. "You stole diamonds?"

"I did not," she answered calmly.

"He was so sure," continued Felicity excited. "But they searched her, she was clean."

Selina was looking at them putting her best look-at-the-absurds-I-go-through face.

"Men are such sore losers," the girl added.

"Laurel said you almost punched the cop that was trying to open your car."

"Uh, yeah! I mean, the dude was forcing the door! They had a warrant, all he had to do was ask for the keys, I'd give them! It's a fucking legend car, you don't be fucking with it! Damn cops, man, stupid cops."

"Our dad is a cop," Iris mentioned and Selina looked at her as if asking ' _So?_ '

"So is mine," she informed matter-of-factly.

"Laurel said you were so intimidating the cop even apologized about thirty times," Felicity told everyone. Seemed like the story amused her.

"Did they catch the reaper, though?" Iris asked, and the blonde shook her head.

"But they did managed to recover some feed."

" _They_?" repeated Barry with a small smile.

"Okay," Felicity admitted. "I did."

That was some interesting info Selina was accidentally getting into. She had managed to jam the signal of every camera on her way with a device planted in the heel of her boot, every step she took sent a wave of dirt through the waves of technology, cleaning her path. It was another little thing she had to thank the Pond for, she had gotten those boots almost two years before. Only enough information with it for Ivy and she to figure out what it was, what it did and how to turn it on and off.

"You're seriously going to wait for us to beg you to tell us?" Cisco asked and Felicity looked at Selina, her stare following a silent discussion until she was finally convinced.

"Okay," she chose a computer and started to furiously type. "It wasn't easy, that's some sick technology going on with those jammers and I still don't understand how they functioned, but eventually I got through a few scenes in the docks."

She hit enter and a video started to roll in every screen of the lab. It was indeed the docks of Star City and there was a dark, small figure walking in the shadows, taking guard after guard down in fragments of video until she reached the diamonds and stole way more than the job asked. It was a rather terrific job, the girl was proud of herself.

"That's terrifying," Cisco commented and Felicity put the video to roll again.

"-ly awesome, you mean," completed Wally, eyes locked on the screen.

"It's definitely a woman," Caitlin said.

"Light, flexible and lethal, from the looks of it," said Selina, trying to make herself seem impressed. In a way, she was. She was so good a reaper, she kind of felt like the Kanye West of it all.

"Well, partially lethal," Felicity corrected. "No one died. She was silent and precise, look how she movies, so feline. On the streets, word is that she said she could be called Money Driven Whore, but at the station they are actually calling her… Catwoman."

At that, Selina couldn't help but laugh.

"Catwoman?" she asked rather shocked and Felicity nodded, making her laugh even more. "Cool."

"We're working to figure out who she is, now."

"If she turned those diamonds in cash, I doubt anyone will ever be able to catch her," said Iris, her eyes on the looping video. It was exactly what the teen was thinking, but she was glad she wasn't the one to bring it up.

[…]

" _You won't believe who the Penguin dropped at our door this morning!_ " Barbara said on the phone that same afternoon, when Selina still was at the S.T.A.R. Labs spinning in her chair, waiting for some progress on the whole Viper thing.

"Who?"

" _Harleen Quinzel. I didn't see her in forever, she looks alright. He said it was a special delivery and she looked quite distressed_."

"Oh," the teen mumbled unworried, playing with a stuffed cat she had bought that morning.

" _He said he rescued her and she said it was all your fault_ ," continued Barbara and Selina shrugged.

"I don't talk to the Penguin in months."

" _That's what I told your dad_ ," Babs said calmly, making the girl smile. " _How's the job hunt_?"

"Slow, but it's okay, I still have some money," a lot of money, to be precise, but who was counting? "No need to make any calls or anything."

" _Someone donated a thousand dollars in our account_."

Selina hummed.

"You can pay the gas bill now."

" _Don't you want to know where it came from_?" asked the blonde and Selina dismissed it.

"Mom, you know I don't ask where money come from once it's in my hands," reminded the girl and the adult laughed.

" _What are you doing_?"

"Nothing," she said in a soft tone. Whenever Connor kicked her somewhere, she'd put the stuffed cat's paw over the spot, like when cats try to catch the laser dot. "Playing with a cat. _And pretending I don't know people are talking about me_ ," that last part was said a little louder and made the S.T.A.R. Labs people straighten their backs, caught off guard. "You know, the usual."

" _Call me if you need anything, okay_?" Barbara told her with that motherly voice that got so much better after Barbie was born.

"Okay, I will. Gotta go."

" _I love you, baby_."

Selina smiled, dropping her eyes to the floor.

"Love you too, mom," she answered before hanging up, and then looked up at the others again. "So?"

By then, the West siblings had left for work, so now it was just her with the boss, the doc, the nerd and the hacker.

"It's gonna take time," the teen assumed and got four nods. "How much?"

"At least a week," said Felicity. "to start figuring out what to do with what we have. There's a lot of stuff here."

"You do realize that a person was kidnapped and I don't want to find a body, right? And don't give me police statistics, I don't believe in them, not with this," Selina told them. "You guys are the best in the country, can't we put a little speed into it?"

There was an awkward silence for about five seconds and then they all began to talk at the same time. They did that a lot and she had to cut them.

"It's a yes or no question," and they breathed.

"Look, we'll do our best according with the work we already have to do, okay?" Barry said, stepping closer. "And I assume you'd like to participate in everything?"

"Damn right, I will. I mean, I'm not a science person, but I want to help as much as I can."

"You've been doing a great job, detective," Caitlin said behind Barry. "The things you put together will make everything easier. Perhaps you should keep doing your own research in parallel."

She was about to protest that it wasn't enough anymore, but Barry talked first.

"But at the same time, it'd be good to have you near, so we can talk whenever we need to. One of our receptionists quit yesterday and we need someone in the front desk during the afternoon. If you want, you can have the job."

Selina looked at him, eyes crisped, and put her feet on the floor read to stand up.

"Aren't receptionists the first to die in metahumans attacks?" she asked with little tact.

"Yeah, but we're heavily secured," Cisco assured. "None of our receptionists died…"

"And you're pregnant. Criminals respect pregnant people," added Caitlin, letting Cisco affirmation hang.

"Plus, you intimidated a cop," completed Barry. "I think you could intimidate a metahuman just as easily."

"It's not so hard to intimidate cops," she pointed. "But you've got a point," she thought for a few. "Will that Wally kid stick around? He's cute."

The adults shrugged.

"Probably," said Barry at the same time Cisco said "We kind of can't be rid of him."

She stood up, hands on her hips.

"I do need a job and this would be better than the last one…" the girl wondered out loud. "And I need to follow up close this conspiracy theory. So I'll say yes. Because of those things and not because of the cute guy, though he's a plus."

They all looked pretty pleased with the deal and it occurred to her that perhaps the offer was to keep an eye on her, but it was okay. She could behave for a while, as long as they found Ivy at the end. That was all that mattered to her.


	9. A CHAPTER OF PROGRESS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING: Non-con and rape**
> 
> Okay, I'll make this one quick.
> 
> I know it's been so long! And I'm happy no one came asking if I forgot about you, because these +19k words can't like: I 100% didn't forget about you. This is the longest chapter yet, and the longest you'll ever get. I've already started writing chapter 9, and school is out, so I'm hopping I'll have it up until the end of this month. There are so many reasons I didn't post earlier... I travelled, I got into a new university (third time!), work, crazy schedule, got sick a couple of times... but the main reason was that this chapter is really important, and I wasn't liking how it was turning up, so I basically wrote it twice. I hope I got it right on the second time.
> 
> I hope you survive this long ass chapter and review at the end. Thank you for staying with me. This fic is ending, but not my love for yall.
> 
> And thank you Teo (TheAeacusProject) for beta-reading this chapter for me, you rule! Go read his fic, guys, it rocks!

When it was a good day, or a bad day, or a lazy day good for letting the brain rest, Ivy would go to Gotham City’s Garden. It was the only place in the whole city that remained pretty, alive. It thrived more than any Gothamite, and better as well, like plants do.

Now, locked up somewhere she didn’t know where, she could only go to a herbarium that had a few plants she didn’t know (though that status was changing, every new encounter felt like a personal meeting, she always felt better and wiser after), only, and exclusively only when her kidnappers opened the door.

That day, the door was open. She couldn’t tell if it was morning or afternoon, because she’d been knocked out for only God knew how long. At that point, Ivy didn’t even want to know what they were doing to her, she was even glad to be unconscious, as long as she waked up after and as long as the plants didn’t stay off limits.

She wasn’t alone among the plants, this time. Across the room, she identified the dark hair of Jonathan Crane, and his blue eyes looked right at her when she stepped in; he smiled, waving a hello, and she felt something ease in her chest. Jonathan was a friend. They had seen each other more lately, and even though they didn’t share words as much as they shared smiles and gestures, it was nice to be with him. He understood. And it was clear for her now how he chose so naturally to psychology in school.

They were in front of the other in a matter of seconds, meeting halfway the larger room of her captivity. The herbarium was filled with small sprouts getting ready for winter, their leaves changing color where the only indicative she had that fall would soon be upon them, the smell of dirt and green were all around the cool space.

“Is that the flower you mentioned?” Ivy asked, pointing to the plant he was standing in front of before meeting her.

“There’re no flowers anymore, but yes,” he answered, looking in her eyes and her eyes only. She’d forgotten to put a jacket on, so eager she was to change airs, and her skin was starting to bristle, her white cotton tank top and shorts not enough cover. 

They had stripped her to anything that could be turned into a weapon, so even bras were banned (not that she cared about using bras, she wanted to be rid of them a long time ago). Even though she had lost some weight, she knew she still was the  _ Ivylicious _ Barbara liked to joke about. Besides, men were men, and they hardly kept focus if a good looking girl was around, so she made sure to cover herself with her long hair. She liked the Jonathan who looked in her eyes and she intended on keeping that version of him alive.

“I think I saw their blossom,” she wondered, walking to the session where a bunch of blue and white flowers stood just a couple of weeks before in full blow, and touched the yellowing leaves. “Small little bullies, they are.”

She didn’t know why the words spilled from her mouth like that, everything about that sentence sounded weird, but Ivy knew that they were all true.

“How could you describe a flower like that?”

Ivy raised an eyebrow.

“I assume you know what they can do,” she replied instead and he tilted his head a bit.

“Well, yes. But how do you?” he pressed and she shrugged.

“I just do,” and since he didn’t seem very convinced, she smiled. “I guess they told me.”

It was true, the plants did tell her what they were about and how she could help them, but she had no idea how to explain that to anyone without making a joke. As much as it was real, it was also crazy, which was a pretty good summary of her time there as a hostage.

Though she was much more a lab rat than a hostage.

But who was counting?

“Weirdo,” he joked, pushing her lightly and making her giggle a bit.

The only explanation Ivy had was that she had become connected to nature and seeds and dirt. She didn’t know how, but she guessed Woodrue would have a good explanation for her. However, she’d much rather see Woodrue’s face smashed on the asphalt by Helzinger (the way he did for Selina once) than to have to talk to him ever again.

Jonathan reached for a strand of her hair, rolling it around his finger, the gesture brought her thoughts back to him. She still had a strong urge to snatch his hands from her, but it was more an instinct coming from years of Gotham street life than a will to keep him away.  _ She liked him _ . And again he was caressing her and she was holding his wrist, the grab just strong enough to feel his pulse quicken as he twisted the strand and let it fall in a curl, as he reached up to push her hair from her forehead, brushing her skin with his fingertips.

Letting out a slow breath, Ivy let go of his wrist and stepped closer, her hand sliding down his arm; she let herself fit in his embrace and felt his arms unsure around her. He wasn’t much taller than her, just about half a head, but it worked – to be in his arms, his hand in her hair, the comfort of his smell. Before they could be stopped, before they knew who began what, they were kissing. It happened so fast and naturally, and it felt so right, it could be strange.

“Ivy,” Jonathan breathed, trying to push back, but his arm still was around her waist, just in case, and their noses were practically touching. “I-uh, you’ve a girlfriend. Harleen is my friend.”

“I know,” she replied, her eyes in his as if something took her over and that, right there, was everything she wanted. And she knew he wanted it too. “But will I ever see her again?” he couldn’t answer that question. “You’re the only friend I have here Jonny, and you care about me. I care about you.”

He opened his mouth, probably to protest, but the words died halfway through.

“Jonny,” Ivy continued. “It’s alright,” she nuzzled him, ready for another kiss.

“You don’t have to-“ he tried one more time, but his walls were clearly down already. Ivy’s blue eyes in his were sharp like a frozen ocean, but Jonathan’s were a different shade of blue, clearer, meant to pass along trust.

“I don’t have to, indeed,” the redhead answered with sincerity pouring out of her. “But I want to. Don’t you?”

Jonathan drew in a breath, unable to control how much he wanted her as well. It was so wrong. So very, fucking wrong. He felt her hands slide from his shoulders down his chest and lower and even though it was a bit terrifying, he didn’t flinch as she smiled.

“You do,” she whispered, and before he could thing one more time, his lips pressed hers urgent, making her smile wider in their kiss. 

His hands pressed her skin under the cotton tank top she was wearing, over the short shorts of the same soft fabric. If she was that health under his touch, it was because he bought her cause, he fought for her to have better food and a shower every couple of days. He was the one to talk some sense into Woodrue and his people, and even though it wasn’t enough to have them release her, it was enough to have her treated differently from the people they picked on streets.

Ivy was special. And she knew all that about him because she watched him, knew the kind of person he became, even if she was from a fair distance. Ever since he left that hospital, thanks to her ( _ make it the long way _ ), all he turned out to be was a kind hearted boy, unable to do evil, a person who thought about others first. He had so much ahead of him, she knew it would be beautiful.

She didn’t know that there was another layer to Jonathan Crane capable of turning on all the right points of her body. A Jonny that held her tight, kissed her skin, made her shiver with anticipation. Everything was building up to this, from the moment he first showed up by her bed, and she was damn well enjoying it.

“You look like a dream and feel like the ocean,” Jonathan said under his breath, his eyes locked in hers overwhelmed with lust. “I think I might drown.”

“Do you care?” Ivy asked, her hands gripping the skin of his back, her breath quick, and he shook his head.

“No,” he replied, and as soon as the word was out, he let himself drown, the poetry of his words not going unnoticed by her.

Ivy doubted it was intentional, but it also was hard to believe that she could inspire so many people that way, as if she was  _ art _ . Well, a couple of people so far, that she was aware off, but to have one person talking about her like that already felt surreal, let alone two.

Poetry had never been her thing. Ivy was a science person in its most basic matter: she liked things straight (even though she herself wasn’t very straight – she could see the irony). She liked facts, causes and consequences, discoveries. Her curiosity came in different shapes and she always heard that one maxima: she was too smart for her own good. Poetry wasn’t about that, it was the opposite, really. It had way too many twists and turns, its abstraction used to be beyond her reach, like most art was. Barbara and Selina were trying to get into her, get her to appreciate more than fashion, but someone got her first.

Koryak Curry looked like everybody’s dream. He sounded like most people’s dreams as well. Not only his face was amazing, but his mind was out of this world. He cared about the environment with such  _ passion _ that was captivating. When Ivy went to Sam Bradley’s home that afternoon, after Selina blindly set them up, he did everything the opposite of what she thought he would, made sure she was comfortable, to know her and let her get to know him, which was the best of the surprises.

“How old are you again?” he asked that day. They were in his room – the guest room -, with the door open, and so far no one had touched the other.

“Fourteen,” she answered, and Kory looked down shaking his head. “What?”

“You look older,” he told her and she nodded.

“So I heard.”

“You know...” he got closer to a board filled with paper and photos, articles about marine biology and some mythology. “If you want, we can do a lot of nothings,” he suggested, making her laugh.”

“Why so?” she asked and he shrugged, avoiding eye contact. She wondered if he was playing her or if she really was that intimidating. When he talked again, was only when he met her eyes.

“I don’t know, you seem to have an innocence that I don’t want to be responsible for taking.”

Ivy got closer. She was nervous about it all, hopping in a guy’s car without knowing if it was really safe, even if Jim had told them that the Bradley were a nice family. It was Gotham after all, and both Selina and Ivy had met plenty of “nice” families, that statement brought no sense of security. But she also knew that their street smarts would help them in any situation and they could be rid of those guys if they wanted to. Somehow.

However, from the moment Selina called shotgun and Ivy had to share the backseat with Kory, he proved to be good hearted and open minded, with a beautiful and easy smile, and with that face. He was quickly becoming the first man she felt she could trust.

“It was my idea, you know?” she confessed getting closer to the board. Up close, she could see not only the colorful scientific articles and photos, but ripped book pages, handwritten stuff. Her eyes fell in one particular napkin stained with Coke, where she could read ‘ _ The jewels were her eyes like sapphires the world was too unworthy to have. That’s why I treasure her _ ’ in a fine letter. “To find ourselves dates. So I wouldn’t say I’m that innocent.”

Turned out that Kory had written those words as well as most of the poems on his wall. He showed to her that there could be poetry in science and that it was more blatant than the art in galleries, more inspiring than the modern bullshit people praised. What they did, as caretakers of life, was look through a different angle, purer, sweeter, rawer. No one could ever explain it to her better than he did.

When he went back to Gotham the following summer to meet his father, he had promised her a lot more words, and Ivy was looking forward to them, eager to find out more about this new universe she was discovering.

“I’m gonna be so late!” Ivy screamed, hurrying down the stairs of the loft. It was so crazy to think that everything had happened only a little over a year before. Her whole life had changed.

“Late for what?” she heard Jim ask from the kitchen.

“Don’t you know?” Selina replied just as the redhead was entering the kitchen. “Kory Curry is coming to town. His name is so dumb, but his  _ face _ …”

“And his everything else, I gotta say,” Barbara added, making the older teen agree with a smile. “I mean, I know he’s a teen, but I got to congratulate, God was generous with that one.”

“ _ Who _ ?” the annoyed tone in Jim’s question was almost palpable and Selina and Babs responded at the same time.

“Kory!”

“Her summer love,” Cat added with a smug smile to the younger girl.

“Who said anything about love?” she demanded, and Selina raised an eyebrow that the other girl chose to ignore. “Can I borrow your car?”

“Hey, White Rabbit!” Jim cut them before Selina could toss her car keys through the room. “You can’t drive.”

For a few seconds, they were all silent, because Ivy was a hundred percent sure she knew how to drive since she was nine, but then she remembered that she was fifteen and didn’t have a license yet. Damn cops.

“Oh.. true. But I’ll be so late!” she turned puppy eyes to Jim and he didn’t last a couple of seconds before reaching for his wallet. His parenting skills were really bad.

“Get a cab,” he offered her fifty bucks and Ivy took it smiling, even though she had saved money.

“Thanks, dad!” she exclaimed, and then took her bag from the floor by the front door. “Don’t wait up!”

At the time, she didn’t know how her encounter with Kory would be after a whole year apart. Ever since that summer of fourteen, Ivy had been with guys and girls from school and never attached with anyone, basically following her instincts to decide with whom to have sex. They talked during that time, she and Kory, but that was about it. In the meantime, she probably hooked up with more people than Selina did, although the older girl was the one who pulled the  _ whorest _ move a couple of months before.

The moment Kory crossed the gate, however, all of Ivy’s worries were thrown out the window and all she could see was him. Apparently, the same applied to him, for his embrace and his kisses said it all.

He had rented a hotel room where they spent the day – him telling her about the meeting he’d have to have with his dad and how part of the reason he had gone to Gotham was to “rebound with the old man”, her telling him about her success at the SATs and how she was accepted in Gotham U, her plans of being the greatest botanist of the country.

And then he showed her this notebook small and with pages filled with words and papers and leaves, the undercover read ‘ _ Songs about Ivy _ ’ in red uppercase letters.

“Because I know you love Maroon 5 so damn much,” Kory joked and she side-eyed him, laying down the bed on her belly, the notebook in her hands.

“You bitch,” Ivy replied, because in fact she despised Adam Levine and his stupid The Voice trophies, and Kory  _ knew _ that.

“I don’t know, it sounded like a good title,” continued Kory, his hand sliding up and down her spine.

“Shhh,” she shushed him, her eyes scanning the pages. He kissed her shoulder, gently brushing her long red hair to her other shoulder before sneaking a peek at the page she was reading.

“ _ she held my hand as we walked down a road only she knew _ ,” he declared from heart. “ _ a path she probably created to lure her men in./I could never guess what was at the end, for I was one of her men/– maybe the first, maybe the last –/and I could never measure the stairs of my ruins./she took me in and had me moving/but she never told me when to rest. – she pushed me off an abyss and didn’t even use her hands _ ”

Ivy smiled, rereading the words a couple times more.

“Did I, really?” she asked kindly, not looking at him. She flipped a few pages and they were all messy scrambled likes of thoughts, like the mural he once had in his room, equally amazing.

“I think you did,” he answered her, never ceasing to touch and caress her, and she looked at him. “I think we’re soul mates, am I wrong? Did I misread everything?”

“No,” Ivy said with finality, her eyes locked in his. “I think you’re right.”

At the time, there was no denial that there was a connection between them, the way they prioritized the same principles, believed the same things. Their synchronism was enviable – they laughed at the same jokes, ate the same food, seemed like two halves of a whole. And Ivy was dangerously close to being what she denied the whole year: in love with him.

She kissed him and he kissed her and that went on for a while until Ivy interrupted it, a genuine question needing answer.

“What’s the abyss, though?”

Back to the present, a lot had happened ever since. After Harleen, Ivy wasn’t so sure about who was her soulmate anymore, and Jonathan Crane had just made things a lot more complicated. It escalated quickly, she knew, and it tore her heart. She didn’t know where to go from there.

They were so focused on each other that they barely noticed the change in the ambient. It was only when Ivy opened her eyes, after calming down her breathing, after easing the edge of her emotions, that she looked around in amazement.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped, trying to grasp the wonder that just had happened and Jonathan followed her gaze just as flabbergasted.

The whole herbarium, previously naked of its color, was shining bright in a kaleidoscope of smells and flowers and fruits, everything that was green and blue and orange, everything that was impossible, simply beyond nature’s control. How it came to be, Ivy couldn’t tell. Neither could Jonny.

“Holy shit,” the boy cussed, putting his pants back on and then walking a few steps amazed. “How did it happen so fast? It’s bedding season.”

“It’s incredible,” the redhead sighed, taking a small, pinkish fruit from its sprout. She smelled the fruit, catching a scent of sweetness, some sass and a sniff of illusion. “Magical.”

Ivy looked up at Jonathan and he was standing in front of his blue flower; he looked worried, lost. If only she could read people as well as she read plants… she stood by his side, her hand holding his.

“They locked me up, too,” he confessed to her. “It’s been five days.”

“Do you know how long  _ I’ve _ been here?” she dared to ask and he nodded.

“Six months,” he told her and looked at her as she nodded impressed, but unsurprised. “I know it’s no comparison to what you’ve been through, but I think we’re fucked, Ivy. I think they are nervous.”

In a reflex, she held his hand tighter. What a long way they had come. She looked around, at all those beautiful plants, and incredibly enough, she felt fine.

“I think we’ll be alright,” she told him softly, and smelled the fruit she had picked again. “We’ll be fine.”

She didn’t promise, though. Promises weren’t part of her vocabulary.

 

To work at S.T.A.R. Labs was an everyday adventure, Selina found out pretty soon. It was true that the security had improved especially when Harrison Wells 2.0 came to this earth, they didn’t lie about that, but that didn’t stop metahumans from trying to come and go. If only they hadn’t announced that they were the Flash’s partners.

On her very first week, there was this Fiddler, that Sapphire something, and a third rogue appeared at their door at the beginning of her second week, the creepy Rag Doll, leading the girl to decide to keep her whip under the front desk 24/7.

Selina shared the front desk with two other receptionists, all working in different shifts. Three days after the Rag Doll incident, she got a text from Caitlin asking her to arrive early, for they had found something. 

She greeted the girl at the reception, Jesse, left her purse on the desk and hurried to the toilet. Every day, Connor seemed to be heavier against her bladder, like some sort of punishment for keeping him a secret for so long to so many people; he grew exponentially, painfully pushing and kicking, and her back ached all the time. Cait said it was because he was turning and that it be worst if she wasn’t exercising, but she also said that Selina wouldn’t feel comfortable until he was born, which was the worst part.

The teen’s line of thought was cut when she exited the toilet and saw the receptionist trying to stop a guy that wanted to storm in the labs.

“What’s going on?” she exclaimed at the same time the guy called “Where the hell is the Flash?”

He was wearing some sort of uniform and they couldn’t tell just by looking at him if he had powers, but he seemed pretty average. Taller than both girls, of course, probably stronger, but obviously not smarter.

“Sir, I told you that’s not how it works,” Jesse tried to explain, standing between him and the automatic doors that led to the elevator. Besides receptionist, she also was an intern in the labs. “The Flash doesn’t stay here, we’re just associates.”

“Bring me the Flash!” he demanded very theatrically. It reminded Selina of Zaardon.

“Why exactly would we do that?” Selina asked, one hand on her round belly, the other ready to reach for a weapon in the first opportunity. She was near the desk and saw that the silent alarm had been hit, so all they had to do was distract the guy for long enough.

“So I can crush him!” the metahuman replied and the two girls exchanged a glance. Depending on what kind of power that guy had, he could destroy the whole building, and some places could only go through too many reforms. So Selina acted.

“See, a lot of people have tried to do that, and just a couple were more or less successful,” she blabbed, distracting the guy as she reached for her whip. “And your plan sucks.”

Offended, the metahuman turned to the carbonite doors again.

“FLASH!” he shouted, and with a quick wrist movement, the girl’s whip snapped, rolling tight around his neck. Jesse screamed, taken by surprise.

“I know I should be used to impatient people,” she said, hold the grip near the point he’d pass out, a trick she had learned with the best. He didn’t seem like the super-apnea kind of guy, and if his power was significant, he’d already had used it, so she felt pretty confident. “But that’s a character flaw I like to save just to myself.”

With a small, but precise movement, the metahuman blacked out and fell on the floor and Jesse looked at her wide-eyed.

“You’re crazy,” she said, getting closer. “But also pretty badass. Where did you learn that?”

“I’ve my good street influences,” replied Cat.

“Hey, Simba!” Cisco called coming from the elevator with Caitlin and Barry. “Since when did we allow whips in the building?”

“Where’s the Flash?” Selina asked instead, looking straight at Barry. He didn’t flinch. “And you’re welcome for taming a rogue so easily even though it’s not my job.”

“That’s Weather Wizard,” Barry said impressed. Okay, maybe he wasn’t the dumb kind of rogue, Selina heard that the whole building had been ‘ _ anti-Weather-Wizarded _ ’ because he had escaped from the pipeline. “What did he want?” the boss asked, making sure to check if Jesse was alright.

“Same old: the Flash. Didn’t you hear the shouting?”

Cisco crisped his eyes at Selina.

“We need to work on your ego, young lady.”

“You won’t have time for that,” she turned to Cait. “What did you want to tell me?”

For a second or two, Caitlin worried about the guys dealing with the passed out metahuman, and if Ivy was there, she for sure would say something like ‘ _ I know it’s hard to trust men to do anything right, but they got it, girl, let’s do business _ ’, but Ivy wasn’t there, not yet, and Selina was stuck with the hope that those S.T.A.R. Labs people would be able to help them. Focusing on the pregnant girl, the doctor nodded and smiled.

“Come on.”

Selina followed her down the hall to the same control room they used to show the Catwoman footage Felicity had recovered. It was rather amusing that she was actually being called Catwoman, even though that fragmented video was the only evidence people had about her existence and only a handful of acquaintances knew who was behind the mask. Looking down her round belly, it was easy to tell that Catwoman wouldn’t be active for quite a while.

There were a lot of S.T.A.R. Labs facts that the teen didn’t know about, or had access to; it was a place full of secrets, but Selina knew how to read people and had made her assumptions. Besides, she was trying to stay on her best behavior, because she needed those people, so it didn’t matter that Barry’s smile was dangerously similar to Flash’s at that huge photo they had at the entrance, she couldn’t push him.

“Did you get any sleep?” asked Cait, heading to one of the computers.

“Not nearly enough, but, well,” Selina shrugged, heading to her usual chair. “I don’t know how to get him to calm down.”

“I can try and look it up for you, if you want,” offered the doctor and Selina eyed her.

“If you’re going to Google it, I pass.”

Caitlin laughed lightly and clicked on something that made a map of the US show up on the screen. There was a list of chemicals organized by colors right next to it. Caitlin started to talk.

“When we had Dorrance here, we tried as much as we could to make his life better by figuring out the components of the drug in his system, tried to recreate it and reverse it, make some sort of antidote. We had just began to map the components when Lex Corp assumed the case. A lot has happened ever since, and we hardly had time to look at it anymore, that until you came up. I confess I needed some perspective in this case.”

She hit enter and the map started to light up. From Smallville, where Dorrance was found, and Seattle, where he was last seen, to different parts of the country, all popping with different colors.

“There were more cases, you were right,” continued the doctor. “People who disappeared for  _ months _ and suddenly reappeared, dead or alive, in different stages of drug addiction,” more names were listed under Dorrance’s on the screen, most of the scattered around the cold states of the east coast. “There was a burst in the past four years. The dose of toxins in their system was almost always different, but always composed by the same chemicals, as if they were looking for the perfect balance. Those who lived displayed many levels of the reactions we observed on Dorrance – the violence, the paranoia, the vital organs’ malfunction – and everyone’s drug seemed to come from the same base: the Viper. You know what it means?”

An awful lot of points were concentrated in the three states’ area, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Kansas, some of them in the exact places Selina had been at the past months. The girl nodded soberly.

“Lab rats,” she answered and Caitlin bit her lower lip, assenting.

“Probably. I’m trying to get a hold on their detailed files, but it’s not been easy. We’ve been so focused on the metahumans lately, that it kind of clouded all the rest. But look how many cases there is in the Great Lakes’ region, they were all treated as kidnappings and running aways.”

“Not really a work for the Flash,” concluded the girl, her eyes fixed on the map. “Do you think Palmer Tech could have anything to do with it?” she asked frowning at the colored points around Star City. Her hands went to her bump, for Connor had gone quiet, as if sensing how serious that conversation was.

“Definitely no,” Barry said from the door, catching their attention. Seemed like he and Cisco had dealt with Weather Wizard just fine. “Palmer Tech is about technology, not botany. And we know Felicity and Ray, they wouldn’t condone with such a thing.”

“How well do you know them?” pressed Selina, and they all looked at her very offended. Before anyone could protest, she continued. “Look, someone told me that Palmer Tech was involved somehow, that’s why I went to SC. I couldn’t figure out  _ how _ they were involved, but all my trails had been good, the info was hot. They have something to do with it, I’m telling you.”

“Why didn’t you tell Felicity about it?” asked Cisco.

“Seemed rude,” she shrugged and got three pointed looks. “Okay, I didn’t know how to address it! I was a waitress, what should I do?  _ Hey, here’s your coffee! By the way, do you happen to be involved in kidnappings? _ ”

“It’s a good point,” replied Caitlin. “But you just did it. What do you think went wrong in your scooping?”

“There?” wondered Selina. “I don’t know, I think my perspective was on the wrong angle. I pulled all my resources, the ones I use to pull, made some calls, and nothing stood up. So I skipped and followed the next clue, that led here.”

They were silent for a while, the program Cait started still rolling on the screen, names and colors popping everywhere.

“I’ll talk to Felicity, see if she can take a look from inside,” Barry told them, his arms crossed. He clearly wasn’t a big fan of this. “Meanwhile, you guys continue on working on the drug,” he started at Caitlin. “You think we could do what you mentioned?”

Selina looked from one to the other, trying to understand what they were talking about. Did they keep something from her when she specifically told them that she wanted to know everything they discovered? Sure, she was a teen, and pregnant, and a (former) criminal. Sure she hardly trusted people and sure she dropped at their door with a massive bomb to deal, but that was  _ her _ case.

“Start talking,” she demanded, but that only worked on Jim, the three adults were having one of those silent conversations that only came with a lot of intimacy.

“Yeah, I guess we could,” finally concluded Caitlin, and Cisco smiled, heading to annexed lab.

“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Selina asked again, and they all looked at her. Caitlin was the one to talk, getting up and walking closer to her.

“When Lex Corp took over Dorrance’s case, we were obliged to hand them over every single sample of the case we had and all he had with him.”

“Your articles?...” the teen wondered, and the doctor looked slightly guilty.

“We’ve autonomy over our resources, so we were allowed to keep any analysis we had previous to the transfer of the case,” the doc told her. “But we also kept this.”

Selina waited for something to show up on the screen, even though no one was at any computer, but instead, Caitlin pointed at Cisco, who was holding a vial the size of a small water bottle filled with a silver-ish green liquid.

“What the hell?” she exclaimed, reaching for the vial. With no hesitation, Cisco let her take it. On its side, there was a name. “Venom,” she read, and looked at the others puzzled. “You had a name for it?”

“The name was on the machinery thing attached to Dorrance, pumping the drug in,” Cisco explained. “We took some, dissected it, but there are components we can’t understand the origins or effects, and we want to test it, but we don’t know the balance of the dosage.”

“Test?” she echoed. “In which rats?” They were silent for a while, and Selina got it. “In the rogues,” she attested, feeling the paradox twist inside her. 

Had she been in Gotham, she’d know what to do in a heartbeat. She’d do it herself with no hesitation. But that was Central City, and those were the people who always figured out a way, the Flash’s people.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” the girl commented, stepping back.

“We know,” Barry told her softly, clearly trying not to alarm her.

“And how does that helps V?” she continued. “This Venom thing looks so unpredictable, if it came from the Viper… guys, I lived in the streets when the Viper viralized, it was  _ insane _ . And maybe it has nothing to do with Ivy. Wouldn’t we be pressing our luck? We already know that most of this stuff comes from  _ here _ ,” she pointed the map and looked right at Barry. “This is your city, and you’re the Flash!...’s pals,” she corrected so fast they barely noticed. “And he ran through every single inch of the city, how could you not know where to look?”

Selina didn’t know in which moment she stood up and paced around, but after talking so much she felt exhausted, so she sat down again, her hand on her belly, and Connor kicked her lightly. On her other hand, she still was holding the Venom vial. She didn’t know if it was the pregnancy that was making her go soft, or if it was just a whole lot of instincts telling her that that wasn’t the way. Time was running out, and she didn’t know what to expect when she found Ivy. Maybe her sister would be another dead body, or maybe she would be severely broken, but not knowing was such a worst option.

“There’s got to be another way,” she mumbled, and she didn’t think anyone would hear her.

“I think so, too,” Barry spoke up, and she looked at him. He came closer and kneeled in front of her and Cat suddenly felt like the child that she was. “This is a team work, and you asked for our help, we’ll go by your rules. We’ll do what you think is right, you seem to be very good at it so far.”

The teen smiled.

“I am pretty fucking good at it, it’s true,” she said and Barry smiled.

“What about… we talk to Felicity, see what she can find, if it will be helpful… and in the meantime, you keep this,” he put his hand over hers and the Venom vial. Selina looked at Caitlin.

“Your research.”

Caitlin shook her head.

“When you think it’s time to do whatever you think we can do with the Venom, just bring it back to us,” the doctor said with her usual calm. “We’ll keep an eye on these police files to make sense of this map.”

“And you go to the front desk, because we need Jesse here,” completed Barry, standing up and offering his hand to her. Selina accepted it and stood up as well. “I walk you.”

She went back to the reception with Barry, him talking about how well she handled the Weather Wizard, how her methods were unorthodox, but efficient; and when she was well sat on her chair, she looked at the vial as if it could review itself as something useful.

After a few minutes, she put the vial in her purse, like one of those gifts she got from Fish all those years. Selina felt that she couldn’t stare at it for too long without going a bit crazy, and she had way too many things to handle by them. Let the vial be for a couple of days or so. And then, she’d have a good answer of what to do.

 

There was a bug in the system, Felicity found out in those couple of days, easing the tension that was going on in S.T.A.R. Labs when she called for a meeting. She didn’t know who had put it there, but it was discreet, hardly a glitch, and it wasn’t part of Palmer Tech, which meant it was something hired, a job to someone. The hacker was trying to figure out for whom the work was done and how she could decode that thing, and there was a small chance that maybe, just maybe, that was exactly what Selina had to be looking for the previous month.

“I’m pulling the archives of every single job we did the past ten years or so to see if anything matches this code,” the blonde told them through video conference that Saturday morning, furiously typing and apparently trying to look at many screens at the same time. “Give me a couple of hours more.”

“You were the one who called us,” Selina mumbled, unable to keep still in her seat. It was nerve-wracking to not know if the trail was good. What if she got it wrong and they were wasting time? “What can you show us?”

“This is the bug,” one of the screens of the lab started to show a messy sequence of codes that made no sense to Selina as Cisco spoke. He found himself a computer and sat down relaxed. Selina had no idea how he could be so chill. “Or where we think it’s settled.”

“Could you be  _ more _ vague?” asked Jesse, crossing her arms, and the teen looked at her grateful. That was exactly what she was thinking.

“It’s filtering, soon we’ll know where it came from,” Felicity assured. “And what it’s made for.”

If it really was something in the code system of Palmer Technologies, then no wonder Selina had never found anything on them, she wasn’t an IT person, she never thought of turning to the codes. Her approach was different. And if the Pond knew that she had to look for computer codification, then why didn’t they just  _ said so _ ? She could have Ivy back weeks ago already.

“Wait, what’s that?” the teen’s line of thought was cut when something in the code caught her attention. “Go back.”

“Back where?” several people asked confused.

“The stupid numbers on the screen, what else do you think?” she snapped, standing up. “Didn’t you see? There’s an image there, I’ve seen it before. Slow down and roll back.”

They did as she said, slower, looking for anything that resembled an image, but all they could see for almost a whole minute was numbers in a secretive shade of green. Seven people, and none able to find a damn pattern in the code. Until-

“There!” Selina shouted, and Felicity paused the rolling. Stepping ahead, the girl pointed the edges of a circle, and then the sequel of ones and zeroes that formed an image: a twig with four leaves popping out of the circle. “See? This is not new, I’m sure I’ve seen it before.”

“I’ve got this,” Felicity announced, now focused on one section of the code, it’d be easier to track anything, Selina supposed. The blonde, on her side of the screen, was typing and talking non-stop. “Hold on… crap, that’s good, but not today, Satan, not today. This is  _ massive _ , guys, real good stuff.”

Selina turned to Jesse and Wally, her arched eyebrows wondering if Felicity ever stopped talking, and they both replied with small shrugs.

“Am I the only person who recognizes this thing?” she asked, looking around. In her mind, she was trying to bring to the surface where exactly she had seen it, but was having very little success. It was one of those fogged memories that you’d only remember when you’d be nearly asleep, it seemed.

“I’m having a hard time to see the image in it, to be honest,” Iris confessed, her voice as low as Selina’s not to disrupt Felicity’s concentration.

“GOT IT!” the hacker shouted, and they heard someone cuss on the other side. Felicity wasn’t alone, and the person who was with her probably was startled. Damn, Selina suspected that even Connor was startled with her volume. “Holy mother of the snicker bitches, that’s so not a good sign.”

“Come on, Penelope, go straight to the point,” begged Selina. “I’m pregnant, I can’t stress too much.”

Felicity stared at her for a couple of second, as if saying “ _ Oh, child _ …” and then nodded. She cracked her joints and went quickly back to business.

“It’s a Gotham job,” was the first thing she told them. “We collaborated with WellZyn to create a system about seven years ago… the IT that worked on it was hired by Wayne Enterprises after that…” at this point, the hacker wasn’t even looking at them anymore, her eyes locked on all her screens, trying to absolve as many info as she could to tell them. “The system is used in Gotham U’s internship programs… but it was upgraded a couple of years ago, specifically to the botanic program.”

Faced with that specific piece of information, Selina’s heart sunk.

“Ivy was on the botanic program,” she told them, suddenly needing to sit down again. “But it could be only a coincidence, right?”

“Hold on…” Felicity mumbled, frowning. “There’s something behind it. The botanic program was sponsored by Wayne Enterprises’ WellZyn, and they were trying to cover something… look.”

The screen where the codes were now started to be lit up with files filled with calculus and chemical formulas that were appearing way too fast for Selina to figure out, but Barry was dead concentrated in everything that was being shown.

“Cait,” he called, and she let go of the tablet she was checking to find herself one of the computers.

“I’m on it,” she replied; Iris went behind her to take a look at what she was doing as well.

“That looks terribly illegal,” Felicity commented, still sending them archives.

A bit numb with the information, Selina looked down the table and saw Caitlin’s discarded tablet. She was receiving everything that was on the lab’s screen, so the teen picked it up to look closer. Her hands were oddly firm, bursting with a determination that she didn’t know could be inside her at this point.

“Are you alright?” asked Jesse, worried, and Selina looked up at her.

“I don’t know why y’all look so surprised, that’s like, Gotham’s standard procedure. Kidnapping people to do whatever the hell they want with them. It happened a thousand times before, it keeps happening.”

No wonder the Pond was so interested in Ivy’s case and sort of knew what it could be. They were survivors; they lived to uncover that kind of thing.

The files stopped popping up and now Selina could look at it closer at the one at the top. At the top right, there was a symbol, and now she could see that it was a simple twig, but a flower – a blue flower with four petals inside a black circle, Woodrue’s name under it. 

And it clicked in her mind.

She reached for her purse, that was on the floor by her chair, and dig its contents looking for an envelope in particular, one she had gotten not so long ago. It was inside her journal, a few pages after the one where Bruce’s letter was tucked in and she opened it, taking the blue flower out with delicacy. Slowly, Selina looked up at Barry and Cisco.

“Is that it on the symbol?” asked the girl, her voice suddenly small.

“Where did you get that?” Iris asked, the worry palpable in her voice. Selina shook her head.

“Someone left it to me when I was in Star City. I don’t know who, it was just there.”

“Okay,” Cisco looked at Barry and Iris nervously. “So that’s in the symbol of the new Woodrue grow house, right?”

“The same of the files?” asked Jesse, now holding the tablet that was with Selina. She had zoomed the logo.

“The same of the bug,” attested Wally, pointing at the screen, even though the codes weren’t there anymore.

For a second, no one did a thing, as if waiting for the first person to dare to act. It was Barry, who turned to Caitlin once more, looking for her confirmation on whatever it was he wanted her to confirm. After some stretched seconds, she breathed in, wide eyes to her boss.

“It’s the Venom,” she announced. “These components and formulas, it’s the same of our version of Venom.”

“Really?” Felicity asked and they all turned to the screen. Selina almost forgot the hacker was still there. “Ray has been looking for a reason to bust Woodrue for  _ ages _ !”

“Why?” Selina asked, confused. “Woodrue is Ivy’s mentor, she adores him. There’s something wrong there, guys.”

“He also has a long list of crimes he got away with,” Iris told them, making sure to sound very careful. “My dad has a file about him on his desk, but not even with the new grow house we could find a way to catch him.”

Selina tried to look back and see if there was something suspicious about Ivy’s mentor, but she had nothing. She had never even seen him, all she knew about him came from her sister. And Ivy  _ adored _ him. She was so excited to attend the biennial convention, hoping that she’d be part of it eventually. And if Woodrue was one of the people heading the Smallville convention that handed out stickers like the one on the car that took Ivy, what guarantee did they have that he wasn’t the mastermind behind her sister’s kidnapping?

But why would he take V?

More important: why hadn’t Selina figured it out sooner?

She stood up with a jump, ready to go get her sister – if the redhead even was at the grow house – and she got distracted by Felicity on the phone.

“What are you doing?” asked the teen. She had tuned out the discussion between the adults, but it seemed that she shouldn’t have.

“Calling Ray,” Felicity answered. “He’ll want to know about it.”

The hacker stood up and walked away, leaving only a dark, circular room for them to see and Selina turned to the others.

“Okay, where’s this grow house?” she asked.

“Same place the old grow house was,” replied Cisco.

“That doesn’t explain shit to me,” Selina retorted, pointing that she wasn’t a Central City citizen. She hung her purse on her shoulder and fished the vial of Venom from its insides. “If Ivy is there, I’m gonna make that motherfucker drink this dumbass chemical of his.”

“Wow, wow, hold on, we need a plan,” Barry interrupted her. “And you shouldn’t go with us.”

“Why would that be an option?” demanded Selina very offended. A few pair of eyes lowered to her bump, and she held it. “I’ve never been so close to finding Ivy, there’s no way you’ll keep me out of the action. I’m a pro. If you use  _ this _ against me, I’ll scream,” she ignored their wide eyes. “Now tell me, where the hell is that grow house?”

“Uh-“ Barry stuttered. “We need to contact the Flash first.”

Selina looked at him flabbergasted for just a second, the feeling quickly turning into an unexpected fierceness, and stepped closer. She could be half his size, but that didn’t make her less terrifying.

“Do you take me as an idiot, Barry Allen?” asked the teen and she heard someone behind her hold a laugh, probably Wally. “It’s been six months since Ivy was taken from us, since she’s been a lab rat in the hands of some vile people, and this can be our only chance to get closer to find her, closer than we’ve ever been, before they realize that we got their trail. I don’t care about plans right now. What I care is going there, finding V and possibly smashing the responsible person’s face on the asphalt for a few kilometers, so suit the fuck up and chop chop!”

She fiercely strutted out of the lab under shocked and amazed eyes, but stopped by the door, suddenly remembering.

“I still need someone to drive me there or point the way,” said Cat, turning to the S.T.A.R. Lab people, and only them they seemed to be able to move, all talking at the same time, getting car keys and taking guns from  carbine safes, calling the police. On the video call Felicity had left open, Thea, Laurel and Sarah were watching with smiles as they moved out.

“God, I miss this kid,” confessed the lawyer and the other two agreed.

 

The long version of the story about how Selina ended up owning every single piece of respect and love to Ivy started in her troubled 15 th year, after she began to work for Barbara at the art gallery.

That summer had been good and all, with Sam Bradley and learning a lot about the business. But the more Sam gave her some sort of feeling of lull, the more one thing bothered her: the gallery’s books. She was drowning in one of those when Bruce knocked at her door in a work day.

“Too busy?” he asked, and she sighed.

“Something is  _ wrong _ ,” the girl whined, leaning her forehead against the table, and Bruce came in, sat in front of her.

“What is it? How can I help?”

Tired and annoyed, Selina looked up at him and slid the book in his direction. Bruce took it and flipped it back to page one.

“Long story short, I think someone is stealing from Babs, but I can’t find where exactly, nor who.”

Bruce looked at her, slowly going through the pages without checking them.

“I think I let something slip, but I can’t look at those anymore, my brain is dying,” she kept complaining and he smiled.

“I can try and take a look, if you want,” offered the boy. And that was how they ended up spending the whole afternoon together, even though Bruce had a girlfriend who hated Selina, and Selina was sort of dating one of his best friends.

It wasn’t as if they did anything but talk, but whenever they got together, it felt a little like they were breaking some rules.

“Did you get word about my cousin Kate’s birthday party this weekend?” Bruce asked in the middle of the afternoon.

“The last party before summer is over?” Selina replied, and he nodded making a face. “Hell yeah.”

“Are you going?”

Selina nodded.

“Barbara was invited. She knows a lot of rich people here and upstate. Perks of growing up eating milk and pear, I guess,” she eyed him, observing his reaction to her words. Once, there was a time when she’d bother him. Now, he was getting used to it. “What about you?”

“I know some people, but I don’t particularly like them all,” he smart-mouthed, and Selina waited, one eyebrow up. “I’m going to the party. 18 th is supposed to be a big deal.”

“So I heard, but Kate Kane is a big deal already. Like… the new Paris Hilton or something,” she explained and Bruce laughed.

“If only you knew how much she hates that title,” he commented. “Tell no one, but Kate is my favorite cousin. I was pretty sad when they moved to the west coast, and I’m glad she’s back.”

“Well, then I’ll definitely have to go meet this cool cousin, now, ain’t I?” the girl joked.

Except it wasn’t a joke; by the time Saturday came, Selina was filled with expectations about the socialite Kate Kane, owner of the world before the age of eighteen, lesbian goddess (according to Ivy). It was the coolest party of the block, and also a family thing, everybody went – from Babs, with Ivy, Selina, Kory and Sam, to Tommy Elliot and his white boys, and Silver, arm hooked on Bruce’s, and Alfred, with none less than Leslie Thompkins.

And, for once, Selina was having fun without the weight of the constant feeling that her small chance of having a family that cared about her was ephemeral, or wondering if they’d throw her back to the streets, reveal her as an impostor. Despite everything, there, at Kate Kane’s birthday party, with her girls and her boyfriend, Selina Kyle finally felt like she belonged.

The realization was so overwhelming, that at some point she had to go out of the Kane mansion to breathe and try to put her thoughts in order. Selina excused herself to Sam and headed to the first set of doors that seemed to lead outside, finding a beautiful, colorful garden on the other side, the mixed smell of summer turning into fall in the air.

She walked around the garden in amazement, her eyes scanning the ambient. It was prettier than the gardens of Wayne Manor combined, feminine, if she dared to say, and just so delicate. Letting her feet lead the way, Selina found herself standing in a bright gazeebo, facing an artificial lake with candles floating inside flowers. The music was a fainting call from the mansion behind her.

“We’re here early, you know?” someone behind her said, and the girl turned around startled. It was Bruce, he was sitting on a bench by the gazeebo. “Kate said the fireworks would only be released at exact 10:21, that is the time of her birth.”

“That’s kind of stupid,” replied Selina, and he looked at her, his half smile indicating that he agreed. “But it also makes sense.”

“She’s a bit flamboyant,” Bruce joked, getting up and walking to her.

“I heard that’s something that comes with being very gay,” she joked back, watching him get closer. “Where’s your  _ girlfriend _ ?”

For a second, she almost thought that he’d respond “who?”, because he seemed genuinely confused, but then he shook his head.

“I just needed some fresh air.”

“To enjoy the last bits of summer,” asked Selina, turning to the artificial lake. “That are so damn rare in Gotham. Yeah.”

Bruce didn’t reply, and for a while Selina didn’t even process it, but when she noticed that he was quiet, she looked at him, caught him blatantly staring with a smile.

“What?”

He shook his head, never unlocking his eyes from hers.

“I almost forgot,” he said, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Forgot what?”

“How beautiful you are,” he told her as if it was a fact and Selina shook her head, her blondish curls bouncing around her face. “No matter how long I know it, it’s like I always let something slip.”

“Bruce,” warned the girl, feeling the danger approach, that one kind of danger that only came when she was with him.

“Have you ever read Peter Pan?” the boy asked instead. She shook her head again, even though it was her mother’s favorite book and she knew it by heart since she was four. “I never really got the whole Wendy’s kiss thing, you know? Until now. It just clicked.”

“Meaning?” Selina pushed, knowing that she shouldn’t do so, the red alarms blasting in her brain.

“Oh, you know what I mean,” Bruce answered. “You’ve always did, didn’t you? From the very first time I saw you,” he reached up and cupped her cheek, his thumb touching the left corner of her lips. “The hidden kiss is right here.”

Selina smiled and the she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

“Busted.”

There was no way to tell how they collapsed, it was like there was the moment they were apart, and right after, they were connected, no in-between. They were kissing – again, after so long. The first time she cheated on Sam, but not the last; not the first time he cheated on Silver, but the one that mattered. Then, they stepped with both feet in their danger zone, and at that moment the only thing that separated them was an energetic Kate.

“It’s 9:43. Little cousin, the party is about to be transferred and you’re on my spot-that’s not the girl you came with,” she shot everything at once, her eyes curiously analyzing Selina, who stood straighter.

“Kate, meet Selina Kyle, Barbara Kean’s daughter, and my best friend,” Bruce introduced them, and his cousin smiled mischievously.

“Best friend, huh?” she echoed, crossing her arms. She was almost as tall as Bruce, which made Selina feel uncomfortably small between them.

“Babs is not really my mom, she just lets me crash,” the girl explained, out of all the explainings she could do.

“I heard,” Kate replied, easing her posture. “Welcome to the family, miss Kyle. Now seriously, this is my spot. Go be “best friends” somewhere else,” she made sure to mark the quotations with her fingers.

The danger zone felt like a nice place to stay for about two months. It was enough time for Silver to dump Bruce, done with his “playboy bullshit”, and for Selina and Sam to agree that they were better off not together. The fairytale aspect of year fifteen seemed to follow a modern arc: the princess was a successful business girl who was going to save their gallery (as soon as she figured out what exactly was wrong, which she was very close to), headed to her first Wayne Charity Ball as the official face of the Kean Art Gallery. Second year in a row with Bruce as her date. Two months, the danger zone had kept going on, still magically edging every single emotion inside her.

They were there, cracking jokes and dancing to songs they legitimately hated, Selina felt very, very happy.

That day was their expiration date.

“…but what about his date?” Selina heard two girls chat from her stall in the toilet, the voices echoing inside the acoustic room.

“He said she’s only a childhood friend,” said another voice. “But who cares? If Bruce Wayne is willing to kiss you, you just go for it.”

The first person laughed, but the mention of Bruce’s name caught Selina’s attention. His playboy act was something they always discussed. In fact, she was the one who told him that if he wanted to achieve something big in Gotham, he could never do so gently the way his heart was. How many times had she said that in Gotham people had to be ruthless, that their moral compass should be calibrated in gray areas? So Bruce figured out that his gray area was to be the guy everyone expected him to be, with the money he had. That was why he had blonde beauty Silver St. Cloud by his side for so long, invested in that meaningless relationship over and over. That’s why he was always charming other girls around, even if someone else was his date. 

The difference was that Silver cared, while Selina didn’t. She liked to joke about how confident he was getting, how funny it was to compare. She liked when he knew what he was doing.

Until.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” the first girl said. “He’s not even  _ that _ cute.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t  _ hear _ him,” the second girl came in his defense. “The things he said…” she sounded dreamy. Selina pulled her phone from her purse, ready to text Bruce about what was happening so they could joke about it later. “He actually compared me to Wendy, you know? From Peter Pan?”

Everything stopped then, and the moment seemed to stretch. Selina looked up from her phone, stared at the fancy door of the toilet. She didn’t even want to pee, she only went there to sit a bit, overwhelmed with the amount of responsibility she had shown already, all the cordial, fancy talking she had to put her brain to produce. And she knew she should breathe, but she seemed unable to. The girl kept talking over the sound of water out of the tap.

“Said I had a kiss hidden from him and all.”

“That’s creative, I admit.”

“I mean,” the water was turned off. “It’s suave as fuck, I know, but who wouldn’t  _ fall _ for that, it was some great mouth.”

“And the kissing?”

The door opened and the voices started to trail away.

“He’s  _ good _ …”

As soon as they were out of sight, Selina got out of her stall, feeling weird, like her chest had been crashed or something, and it was hard to breathe, and her eyes burned. She looked in the mirror and saw a scared girl staring back, heartbroken even, and that was  _ so. pathetic _ . She couldn’t be heartbroken, not because of Bruce. She had only felt heartbreak twice in her life: when her mom left, and when Bridgit died; never because of a boy, and that couldn’t change that night. No way.

So she put on her best poker face and headed back to the party, but not to stay.

“Selly,” Bruce called her, intercepting her half-way to the exit. “Where were you?”

“Around,” she replied cold-toned, and the boy frowned.

“I was looking for you,” sure, with his tongue in someone else’s mouth, but she didn’t voice that. “I’m about to ask the band to play some Ed Sheeran.”

That was low. They loved to hate Ed Sheeran together. Selina wouldn’t have it now, though.

“Sure, you do that. I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” he echoed confused. “Why?”

Selina sighed, avoided eye contact as she answered, her goal was the exit door.

“I’d business to do, and now it’s done, so I’m out of this rich people’s thingy.”

“But it’s hardly eight, you can’t leave now!” he insisted, and it didn’t matter if it was her exclusive version of Bruce there, asking innocently; her exclusive version of Bruce had betrayed her and she looked at him annoyed.

“Can’t I? Watch me.“

She strutted past him, but the boy was persistent, she had to give him that. He tried to block her way again by holding her arm, but Selina didn’t have time for that dance, not then. 

So she slapped him, right in the face, startling him as he looked at her, his cheek immediately going red with the mark of her fingers.

“Quit trying to make me stay with you, I don’t want to.”

Bruce stepped back, still stunned, and Selina walked out. She was thinking about taking the bus back to Babs’ place, but as she passed by all those fancy parked cars, someone spoke to her.

“Oi? Leaving already?” asked Alfred from the window of the car. “I thought Master Bruce said 9 p.m.”

Selina shook her head.

“ _ I’m _ going home,” she told Alfred, making sure to hide that lump in her throat. “Bruce is still there, having fun.”

“Weren’t you having fun as well, miss?” the butler wondered; she was sure he realized something was off, but Alfred was good with appearances. The teen shrugged.

“For a while-“ her voice cracked against her will, and she took a deep breath, aware of his stare.

“Are you alright?”

She smiled.

“As if you really care.”

Alfred put down something that he was holding, and relaxed a bit – just a bit – under his professional posture.

“You’re right, I don’t. But you’re a fine young lady who’s far from home, so I think you’d like to have a ride.”

She looked at the ballroom where the event was being held and thought for a second or two before stepping toward the door.

“Fine. But we won’t do small talk,” Selina got in, closing the door with maybe too much strength.

“Sounds great to me. Just do me a favor, will you?” they exchanged a look through the rearview mirror, and the girl raised an eyebrow. “Pass this level for me, I’ve been stuck in it for a couple of weeks already.”

Alfred handed her a tablet and she too it, a paused phase of Candy Crush waiting to be finished.

“No 007 skills in facebook games, huh? You’re  _ so old _ .”

“Well, do you want the ride or not?”

To pass two Candy Crush levels for Alfred and not have to cross the city in fancy clothes riding the bus did not take the bug from her mind, though. Somehow, Ivy’s voice kept coming back, informing her that Bruce Wayne could break her heart. She tried to clap back to those thoughts, assure herself that it didn’t matter that she once had a nice boyfriend she ghosted because Bruce noticed her – no, that wasn’t it. What she actually clapped back was that she didn’t a heart to be broken, not by a guy. That stuff only happened when she lost someone really important, and Bruce definitely wasn’t really important. To her.

The elevator door opened with a DING and Selina stepped in the hall, automatically going to her home’s door. Selina didn’t announce her arriving, but she heard the rushed steps from the living room, and Ivy was there, cellphone in hand.

“Cat is back!” she called, letting the house know and straight up skipped to the older girl smiling. “That was some move you pulled, Sel, I can tell this Vine will go viral-why are you crying?”

“I’m not,” Selina huskily replied and she touched her face, feeling the wetness she didn’t realize before. That explained why everything looked so blurry.

Sensing the approach of a big breakdown coming up from her lungs, the teen turned right to the stairs that led to the bedrooms without a word.

“Selina?” Ivy called again, going after her. “What’s wrong? You never cry, that’s scary. Selly,” she tried to make her stop, but Cat only went up faster, almost knocking the phone from Ivy’s hand. The redhead looked at it, the infinite loop of her friend slapping Billionaire Boy rolling, and it just clicked. “What did he do?” she asked running up behind Selina.

Ivy got upstairs just in time to see their bedroom door bang, and rushed after it.

“I hope you’re satisfied,” Selina’s muffled voice said, her back to the door. It took Ivy a few moments to understand what she meant.

“He broke your heart,” said the younger girl from the door, and the other didn’t reply. “What did he do?”

“It’s stupid,” answered Selina, still not looking at Ivy, and the redhead went to her, sat in her own bed right in front of her friend.

“I’m sure it’s not,” she assured. “For you to look like that, he must’ve fucked up pretty bad,” she chuckled and Selina even followed her a bit. “What was it?”

So Selina told her, all about it. From Kate’s party and the Peter Pan reference, how it felt so exclusive for her and what they were, that weird connection she believed they had; and Sam and Silver being disposable, because she had Bruce, to that evening and the two girls talking about how one of them was convinced to do some smocking with him. It sounded as dumb as she felt.

“I knew that brat wasn’t worth of you,” Ivy said shaking her head. She didn’t sound satisfied at all, though, despise the many times she warned. “But I’m not happy you’re hurt, Sel, not one little bit.”

That night, Babs got Jim going out to bring them some Häagen Dazs and she put the girls in her bed; the three of them watched girl power movies until Selina stopped crying and fell asleep. Gordon, resumed to the couch, only got word of what happened later.

“She’s asleep,” Barbara told him; she had gone down to keep him company while Ivy kept company to Selina.

“What the hell happened, she made it in the news,” the cop pointed the TV, even though he was watching a rerun of Seinfeld.

“TMZ is not really journalism,” Barbara pointed. “But he deserved it, the little punk.”

Which was good, to let Jim know, because he added value to the Protect Selina From Bruce Squad, helping cover for her whenever the boy showed up or called. 

Besides, the extra time not thinking about stupid boys gave the girl the last bit of focus she needed to figure out once and for all who was stealing from the gallery. After three days immersed in the books from the past five years and observing behaviors, she finally got it.

“It’s Brennan,” Selina announced at lunch, dropping a pile of evidence between the potato salad and the broccoli sausage balls loud and dramatically. “Over the past three and a half years he stole $173.069,00 from us in many process from purchase to sale, most of it when he was running the gallery by himself last year, because Babs was sick.”

Frowning, Barbara forgot her fork for a while and took the folder from the top of the pile.

“Brennan? Are you sure?”

“Dead sure,” assured Selina. It took her a  _ long time _ to get it straight, there was no room for misunderstandings now.

“He’s been with me since the opening, practically,” continued the blonde stunned. “We went to college together.”

“Is that guarantee of anything?” asked Ivy, analyzing her ball of soy protein and broccoli.

“I guess not,” replied Babs. “I’ll have to fire him.”

“And have to pay him his  _ rights _ ?” cut Selina, making the other two look up at her. “Give him  _ more  _ of  _ our _ money without even deserving it? No fucking way.”

“Isn’t Jim friends with the DA?” suggested V. “Maybe we can have some leverage.”

“Maybe, but I much rather call Dent on a favor when it’s something completely out of our reach,” from the tone of the teen’s voice, it was easy to guess that she had a plan. “No, it’s better to do it our way.”

“And what is our way? Have any suggestions?” provoked Barbara and Selina smiled.

“You do nothing,” said the girl, the mischief evident in her lips. “Let him think it’s all right, and when he least expect, we get our money back.”

“You have a plan,” mused Ivy, and Selina confirmed with a nod.

“Damn right I do.”

Though the plan was simple, it was also risky, so Selina kept the details all to herself as she pulled the strings to make it happen. At the end of that November, after Gotham’s first snowstorm of the season, she had the date set to put everything to work. The teenage girl put her best I’m-here-to-make-your-life-hell outfit, made a couple of calls, filled a bag with a few couple thousand dollars and left home under V’s cover right after dinner.

She crossed the town to the surroundings of Arkham City in a stolen Kawasaki, the line between the Asylum complex and the Hill almost unclear in the dead of night, if not for the river; she parked across the street from the Deck of Cards. There, the snow had already melted, but the cold still crept up her practically bare legs. Selina definitely wasn’t dressed for a motorcycle ride, but it was too late to think about it. Inside, it certainly would be warm. Her date, a massive man filled with fight, didn’t take long to arrive in the passenger seat of a black gangster car.

“Hi Aaron,” Selina greeted without looking up at him. She looked like a small child by his side. “Did Butch give you a ride?”

“Tabs,” he replied, eyes glued on the Deck’s neon door, its owner excitedly greeted the night’s players. “I don’t like him, why are we here?”

Selina looked up at him then, surprised. When she first met Aaron Helzinger, back when Barbara was in a tug war between her heaviness and her craziness, he hardly bothered to talk, but since he got out of Arkham, “sane”, he was practically normal.

“No one likes him. But we’re not here for Jerome,” she told him, the exact moment when Brennan’s bright Camaro turned the corner. “We are here for that little bitch,” explained the girl, making a big show at pointing the orange car.

“He the one who got Babs?” the man asked, and the girl nodded. Aaron stepped forward. “Let’s beat the money out of that sh-“

“Not now, Big Guy,” interrupted Selina, being quicker than him to cross the street. “He ain’t got the money on him yet. I’ll handle the money part, you do the beating when I tell you.”

“Selina Kyle!” Jerome shouted from the door, a wicked grin on his face even when she turned to him and offered him her business signature look. “Nice ride!”

She looked back at the Kawasaki she came in and shrugged.

“Yeah, I stole it,” she said, as if it was no big deal. “Colgate Heights greatest. So? All set for the night?”

“I confess I didn’t think you’d really come,” he said filled with expectations, and she passed by him, entered the eerie warmth of the Deck.

“I don’t fuck around, Jerome. Now, point me the way?” she turned around and saw the redhead guy awkwardly greeting Aaron before doing what she said. She did  _ not _ want to know what had gone down with those two. 

Selina checked the clock, counted four seconds until Jerome turned his attention back to her. He made sure to check her out before stepping ahead.

“Of course,” he said, all professional all of a sudden, though he got way too close for her taste without her not even realizing the moment it happened. “It’s time for a game. My lady?”

He pointed the way to the colorful door of his own personal poker room, but Selina didn’t move, not until he walked first. As soon as she stepped in the room, the air changed. She was the only woman – a teenager – and all those men, five of them, didn’t understand very well what she was doing there, hungry eyes upon her. That until Aaron came right behind her.

“Selina?” mouthed Brennan confused, and she shot him one of her top #3 innocent smiles.

“Gentlemen,” announced Jerome with his usual entertainment voice. “Table is full for the night, have you met the incredible Selina Kyle? One of Gotham’s finest? I’m not even kidding. She’ll be playing tonight. I can only expect you to behave,” he hushed the last part, leaning forward as if he was telling them a secret, and he pointed his thumb to Aaron. “Or else…”

He talked and talked about rules and what a  _ fun _ night it’d be, and while he talked, Selina removed her jackets, revealing a short black dress that left no room for people to think that she was cheating. Because she wouldn’t be. She waited to see where Brennan would sit to sit by his side.

“That’s my seat,” a Japanese guy intercepted, but Selina stepped forward, making her space.

“You mean ‘was’,” she corrected. The guy was hardly taller than her, but he had some balls.

“I mean ‘is’.”

“You don’t mean shit,” interrupted Aaron, standing between Selina and the guy. He flinched, while she stood tall, and without any word more, stepped back, letting Aaron pull the chair for the girl. Jerome was watching the whole thing like it was the best night of his life.

“No, there’s no need to brawl, this only for a night, ain’t it, Sel?” commented the redhead, and she looked right at him.

“You don’t get to call me by nicknames,” informed the teen.

“Selina, what are you doing here?” Brennan asked, looking nervous. He had this uncle vibe whenever she was around at work, trying to crack crap jokes and rustle her hair, which she absolutely hated, but had to tolerate. She always disliked him, but now she had good reasons to get back at him. “Do Babs or Jim know where you are?”

“I reckon this is none of your business,” she diverged as they all took their seats. Aaron stood a few feet behind her like a bodyguard, and she knew he was glaring at Brennan.

The first set of cards were distributed and the first round of bets were called, money in the middle of the table instead of poker chips, and so it began. Her first hand was alright. Could’ve been better, but would do just fine. She just had to have a good start to plain the field, and then she’d go for it, even if it’d take the whole night.

Jordan Brennan was an addict. Every single penny he had, he’d put on the table, and what he didn’t have, he’d stolen from the gallery to put on the table and pay bets.

Now, before Selina’s mom disappeared, she had worked at Black Jack and poker tables, and she taught her daughter everything she knew about card games. Every night she had off – and if she didn’t have the night off, they’d do it after Selina came from school -, they’d sit together and play a little. After, when the fays were bad for stealing and Selina hadn’t eaten in a long time, she’d take it to the cars. Jerome wasn’t wrong, she was one of the greatest, making do with whatever hand she had. It was rather brilliant, actually.

She observed as Brennan won the first round, $1.037,00, looked around the table, and waited. Still $172.029,00 to go. For round two, she doubled the bet.

The secret to make a win believable was to let the money circulate. They all knew that, and they all won and lost in different games during the night. It only mattered to keep track of Brennan’s money for Selina, so she made sure he’d get at least close to what he owned to Babs. Every now and then, he’d ask her if she shouldn’t go home, and she basically ignored him. Until the money was good, and his hand was just as good.

“How much is it now, Brennan?” asked Jerome, always firing the game. There were cars and apartment’s keys on the table, along with “$309.073,00? Two Mercedes? Someone’s got a lucky night.”

Smiling and obviously happy with his Four of a Kind, Brenna threw his arms to the money in the middle of the table, but right in time, Selina stopped him. It was 4:40 already, and it was time to go home. He looked at her confused, and a little bit angry at her interruption.

“Three and a half years ago,” started Selina, letting show a calmness that was very, very fake in her stomach. “My mom made you the book keeper of her very successful art gallery. That before she got sick, right?” it was rhetorical, but his eyes started to change, as if he finally sensed that there was a reason why she was there. “You were in charge of the finances, balanced the sales, everything that involved money passed in your hands.”

She smiled, her hand still holding his writs, and Brennan swallowed.

“I bet you didn’t think she’d put a fifteen years old adopted street kid to learn about the dynamics of an  _ art gallery _ , and when she did, you probably didn’t think said kid would figure out your whole scheme, did you?”

He didn’t say anything, frozen in place, his fingers still touching the pile of money, the keys, including his own Camaro’s, just at arm’s reach.

“I bet you didn’t know that art and money are my jams, did you?” Selina smiled, almost chuckled, but her eyes hardened the following second. “A hundred seventy-three sixty-nine thousand dollars in three and a half years. That’s how much you stole from us.”

Selina laid her card on the table, finally, revealing a perfect spades Royal Flush, and Jerome loudly gasped.

“You don’t mind if I get some interests, do you?” she pushed his hand aside and pulled the money to herself. Jerome clapped his hands.

“Well, a Royal Flush! I guess there’s no going higher than that, gents, the game is over!” he punctuated his words in the right moments, making everything seem like a big performance, which it kind of was. “What a  _ great _ night! I told you.”

“What?” protested Brennan, now desperate. “No, I want to win my money back. No!” he shouted when he saw Selina throw the keys back to their owners, who were accepting the loss and getting up from their seats. “That’s not fair!”

“Oh, you want to talk about fair?” wondered the girl, pausing from putting the money in her bag, and Aaron stepped closer. “You think it’s fair that my mom was practically broke when she left the hospital, covered with bills and debts, especially after she also decided to help two street kids? And what about the  _ fairness _ of her thinking that the business was struggling because of her condition when it had nothing to do with it and everything to do with the betrayal of a close friend?”

She was partially aware of Jerome rushing the other players out of the room, but there was no way she’d let Brennan get away from the weight of the damage of what he did and a few broken bones. Her fingers looked for her switchblade inside the bag and closed around something better. With her left hand, she reached for the other knife, the one strapped to her thigh, and the right hand let go of the bag, but Brennan reached for his car keys and Selina snapped.

With her knife, she carved his hand on the table, kicking his chair from under him in the same movement, causing him to lose balance and torn the hole in his hand a bit further. He howled with pain, and Selina occupied herself with putting on an English punch in her right hand, her best hand.

“This was a gift from uncle Harvey,” she said calmly. “He told me it’s good for when you want to solve things your own way.”

“Selina, please,” begged Brennan, his face red, blood soaking the poker table, touching the edge of the money. She removed the knife from his hand and he fell on his knees. “Please, I’m sorry.”

She paused, observing her wrist close around the punch, and then shrugged.

“Sorry won’t do it, hon,” she explained just before she hit his face. Say what you want about Jim and Harvey’s methods of raising girls, but they knew how to teach one to hit.

Brennan fell face down on the floor and cough blood.

“Hey, who’s gonna clean this mess later, Cat?” interrupted Jerome, making Selina look at him. She even had forgotten he was there and he still wasn’t allowed to call her by nicknames. “Take it outside.”

Only then she realized that they were the only people on the room – Jerome, Aaron, Brennan and she -, and the door was ajar. The teen took the Camaro’s keys from the table.

“How do you like his car, Aaron?”

She remembered how excited Brennan had been when he bought that Camaro. Now that she came to think about it, maybe he hadn’t even buy it, maybe he won it on a table like that one they were standing around.

“Enough to making him fuck it,” answered the gorilla, and she offered him the keys, calmly looking into Brennan’s eyes.

“You think twice when you come to a place full of lunatics who are also close family friends.”

Aaron easily pulled Brennan from the floor, pushed him to the door with little to no mercy, and Selina recovered her bag from the floor.

“I expect your resignation by Wednesday morning,” shouted the girl to the distancing couple. “Have fun, guys!”

Selina, then, resumed putting the rest of the cash in her bag without bothering to keep track of then. All she wanted at the moment was to go back home, now that it was over, and have some sleep, and she was so focused she didn’t look up, not even when she heard the door close.

“Wow,” Jerome said with an amazement that caught her attention. “You  _ really _ are Barbara’s daughter.”

“No,” replied Selina, watching him slowly make his way close to her with a wicked smile on his face. “But yes, I see your point.”

“You know, Babs and I had a good bond,” continued the host as the girl put the last bit of the money in her black bag and zipped it shut. “We were buddies. It’s kinda sad not to have her to chat anymore, she had such pure fire in her skin!” he sighed. Jerome had a way of occupying other people’s space that was rather claustrophobic. “Everyone from that brief and marvelous time found themselves new landlords.”

“Barbara has no landlord, she’s just back to her normal self,” attested Selina, getting slightly uncomfortable with where that conversation was heading.

“Yeah, how boring!” exclaimed the younger of the Maniax. “But it’s okay, I still love her.”

“Ew,” Selina mumbled making a face as she looked down. What she saw got her head spinning with possibilities, and she made some quick math in her head as Jerome got closer.

“Besides, there’s no need to be mad at her, her legacy is right here, just as beautiful,” he continued, pressing his body against Selina’s, the girl trapped between him and the table.

She looked up at him, at the blatant trace of madness in his eyes, the shiver of eroticism that made his lips tremble, felt his boner against her hips and wondered if she could roll with it. He was bigger than her, stronger. If she protested, he could go violent, or not let her leave with the money, and there was no way Aaron could hear her from the outside. Maybe, if she focused on how Jerome was actually kind of hot, she could reboot her brain and get out of it unscathed.

“I was watching you play, Selina,” he bit his lower lip as one of his hand held her left hip and the other traced the contour of her dress’ cleavage. He bended his knees a bit to stay at eye level with her, and when he spoke, his voice was raspy. “It was really hot.”

Without any further warning, nor leaving space for her to retort with something smart, Jerome kissed her. His kisses were rough and his hand were needy, so Selina tried her best to shut her brain down, get it over with, and leave. It seemed to work, for he got more excited quickly. He easily sat her on the poker table, one hand under her dress roughly ripping her tights and putting aside her panties, eagerly feeling her entrance – a hundred percent dry, for the record.

“You know you’re wasting your potential out there, don’t you?” he kept talking. Selina forced herself to look innocent, to look into his eyes as he unbuckled his pants. “Just like Babs did. Look at you,” Jerome held her jaw, forced her to look at him – a waste of energy, in her opinion. There was no way she would look down at his member. He licked his lips and then spat on his other hand. “So beautiful,” he whispered. He said ‘beautiful’ as if it wasn’t really a society burden, but her best asset. His nose was touching her cheek and for a moment she considered closing her eyes, but that wouldn’t be a clever move.

Instead, Selina looked at the colorful wall behind him and focused on evening her breath. It had to end fast, it needed to. And for that, she had to relax. She felt one not-wet-enough finger slide inside her and her body protested, but she didn’t want to get hurt, that was the last thing in her list of possibilities of the night, so that reboot had to happen, her body had to collaborate  _ now _ .

Jerome’s lips were close to hers again, an evil grin on his face as he looked into her eyes. His were of a greyish green, like Bruce’s, and he smelled just like a cute guy she met at the country club once, so maybe it would work, if she focused on bits and pieces of this crazy dude and not him as who he was.

“Come on, Selina,” commanded Jerome in her ear. “Make room for me,” and then, as if it was super funny, he straight up giggled.

At that point, the teen already had reached a level of mental numbness that put the “matter” bar very low, so all she remembered were flashes: he removed his finger from inside her, added some more saliva on his hand – a lot more saliva -; she heard the familiar sound of skin-on-skin from when you’re masturbating, and then his hand was back, two fingers now, and he laughed, mentioned something about her ex-boyfriend using the n-word. He fingered her for just a few seconds before he replaced it with his member, taking his time for the first stroke.

Any pain she was feeling was not revealed in her expression. She watched his pupils dilate and his grin grow, one of her hands behind her, keeping her balance on the table, the other holding on to his shoulder. Any comment he made was suffocated by her thoughts, and all she thought was-

_ getioverwithgetitoverwithgetitoverwith _

After the first, long, tempting stroke, Jerome started to pull and push inside her faster and faster, like a crappy porn movie, not for a second stopping to ask if it was alright for her, if she was liking it, if she wanted to continue. It was so, so different from the experience she had with Sam and the other guys she had been with. Her numbers weren’t big, she still struggled to trust men, and she could use only one hand to count them all (Ivy was having better luck at sex than her, to be real). But it was a bad kind of different, what she was living right there and then.

Selina felt Jerome tremble and it snapped her back to where she was. He was about to come and she would not have his semen inside her, so against her principles, she reached down, stopping the frantic hump of his hips with her knees, and held the base of his penis, pulled him out of her. Swallowing down her repulse, Selina looked up at him, his eyes wild as she jerked him off, and she even smiled a bit.

“Now, let’s not get too excited, right?” she pondered, sounding more factual than sexy, and Jerome gasped as his load was shot on the floor, where she was pointing him.

She patiently waited for him to finish, and once he was done and soft, his head down on her shoulder, hands on each side of her on the table; the teen cleaned her hands on his purple plaid shirt. She pushed him to give her space so she could get down, and Jerome looked up, tried to kiss her again, but it was over, all the spell, so she turned her head to the other side, her hands firm on his chest.

“You had your share, didn’t you?” argued the girl, because that what it really was about, right? He let her walk away with all the money, because she already had paid him with something else. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t what they had agreed on the phone, she had to expect that there would be a twist in the end.

Jerome tilted his head amused.

“Damn right I did,” he replied, and she waited. It still took him a couple more seconds to realize. “Oh, of course,” he stepped aside, letting Selina get down. She adjusted her clothes, only processing through her panoramic vision that Jerome was putting his pants back on, got her back, and headed for the door. “Nice dealing with you, Sel. Your parents will be  _ so proud _ .”

Selina took a deep breath, her hand on the door knob, and turned to him one last time.

“You don’t get to call me by pet names, Jerome,” warned her again, and then, at last, she left.

Outside, Brennan was getting the crap beaten out of him and he looked  _ miserable _ .

“Let’s not kill the guy, Aaron, we don’t want it. Just a little broken,” Selina said as she passed by them to head to the Kawasaki. Brennan’s Camaro was all mashed, she suspected its owner was thrown at it a few times.

“But we’ve been out for less than five minutes,” protested Aaron holding Brennan by his shirt, the other fist ready for a punch. Selina frowned.

“No way.”

“Yes way,” one of the Deck’s crooks replied, some mock in his tone. There was a bit of a crowd watching the show. Selina looked at him and he pointed something above and beyond her. She turned around just in time to hear the Arkham clock strike 5 a.m.

She looked back at Aaron, the massive man still in position to punch the shit out of Jordan Brennan, and shrugged, more to try to ease the weight from her shoulders than to seem dismissive.

“Just let him good enough to be walking by Wednesday, he still needs to carry all the stuff he left in his table in the gallery,” she said, taking the motorcycle key, and Aaron resumed punching the guy. It was that almost-morning time of the day, when November was at it coldest, and now her clothes were even less right for a motorcycle ride, but she made do. Before she started the vehicle, Selina said one more thing. “Hey, Aaron?” the gorilla looked up at her. He had a way of looking at Barbara and her girls very sweetly, even under all the muscles and violence. “Thanks.”

He nodded, throwing Brennan against the wall with one hand.

“Anytime. Tell Babs I said hi.”

Babs, who had spent the night worried and sick about Selina, trembling hands around warm coffee mugs, Jim by her side trying to pull some strings to have someone after their older kid before the mandatory twenty-four hours, Ivy trying to get them to sleep, because Selina was perfectly fine, she always was.

“Nine lives, remember?” the older teen heard the redhead’s voice when she opened the door. The door had the three of them running to the front door. “See?”

“Oh, my God, baby,” Barbara went to her, crushing the girl in an embrace at the same time Jim told someone on the phone. “She’s here, she just got home,” and once the call was over and the hugging was enough, they said at the same time- “ _ What the hell were you doing _ ?”

Selina raised an eyebrow and headed to the dinner room.

“Saving the family business, for a change,” she told them putting the heavy bag on the table.

“You’re freezing cold!” exclaimed Barbara worried. “What happened to your tights?”

“Yeah, have you been outside?” commented Selina. “That’s some crazy global warming shit going on. Anyway.”

She opened the bag aware that she hadn’t answered all the questions, and let them stand around it with shocked expressions. Jim looked worried, Barbara’s jaw had dropped and Ivy took a wad of cash in her pale hands.

“I got Brennan to pay our money back,” explained the girl.

Jim peaked inside the bag and raised a note smeared in red.

“Why there is blood in some of these?” he asked worriedly.

“It wasn’t very easy to get him to hand it over,” she said, making very little case of it, but putting her switchblade on the table, the blood in it partially dry. She sighed when she saw their faces. “He’s fine, relax! It’s just his hand that’s a bit… holed.”

“How did you get him to pay?” asked Barbara, and then she looked at Ivy. “Did you know about this?”

The younger girl shook her head.

“No details.”

“I just pulled some favors,” Selina admitted, despite the fact that she was the one owing favors after that night. She still kept the details to herself. “I knew Brennan was betting the money he stole on poker tables, so I gave a couple of calls and set a seat to myself. People love you,” she assured that last part to Barbara with a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “It was easy because of you. Now I need a bath, I’m freezing and filthy.”

She was halfway up the stairs when she remembered.

“Oh, Babs?” she called. “Helzinger said hi.”

That morning – it was morning already -, all Selina wanted was to take off her clothes, possibly burn them, and slip into a warm bath to remove every single spot Jerome had touched. She really felt filthy, but in a different way from when she’d slept on the streets for too many days without a shower.

She had had sex with Jerome Valeska, and it kept coming back, dirty flashbacks from the previous hour. Was there anything worse in this life?

“Selina?” she heard Barbara call and then knock, already turning the knob and opening the door. “I’m getting in.”

“I can’t seem to be able to stop you,” replied the girl playfully. The woman shot her a look and then closed the door behind her.

“I just called Aaron, he said you went to the Deck of Cards?” it wasn’t really a question, but Selina nodded anyway. “Selly, that place is dangerous! You know who’s there?”

“Jerome,” the girl simply answered. She could only expect to hear his name a lot in the next few days, couldn’t she?

“Exactly! And he’s crazy!” big news. “Awfully charming, but crazy!”

“Weren’t you sort of BFFs?” asked Selina, and Barbara looked at her almost deadly, the way she’d look at people during that time not so long ago. “It’s the only reason why he let me do this and walk away with all the money practically unscathed, because he thinks you’re “good friends”.”

Barbara opened her mouth to protest or explain, but then, her shoulders tensed and a frown deepened on her brow.

“ _ Practically _ unscathed?” she echoed. “Selina, what did he do?”

“Nothing,” the Cat answered way too quickly for it to be believable.

“Selina,” Barbara stepped closer, and Selina closed her legs, brought her knees to her chest as if this way they could keep it a secret, but Barbara was a smart woman who had been abused in many ways, she knew that expression on her daughter’s face way too well. “Selina, what was the deal?”

“Have a seat at Brennan’s table, be handed good cards, take all of his money, let Aaron have a new punching bag.”

“No sexual deal?”

“Why would I make a sexual deal with  _ Jerome _ ?”

“He  _ is _ awfully charming,” argued Babs, and Selina made a face.

“Ew,” she mumbled, second time in the past couple of hours. “Wait, did you had sex with him?” Barbara didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. “Oh, my God, he was underage!”

“And now you’re underage for him,” replied the adult smartly. “Selina, did he force you to anything?”

Depends, the girl thought, is ‘being taller and stronger and trapping you in a corner, then push and pull his dick inside of you’ a synonymous of ‘force’? Instead, she answered-

“I let him.”

“Why?”

“How did you put it? Oh, yeah, he’s so awfully charming,” ironized the teen.

Barbara crossed her arms not buying it.

“Selina,” warned. That was exactly how she sounded: like a warning.

“I let him.”

“Did you want it?” pressed the woman, and Selina looked at the scar on her knee from when she was learning to mirror cat’s movements back in the day. For her surprise, the whole air inside the bathroom changed along with Barbara’s tone. “Oh, baby…”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Do you really think so?”

No. But she could handle it. See? No tears, and she had been an emotional wreck ever since the Bruce situation. Selina looked up at Babs.

“Mom, it’s okay. I got our money back, we won’t have to sell the gallery anymore,” she was talking, but Barbara had covered her mouth, her eyes were getting teary. “What? Why are you crying? Look, I’m fine, I’m perfectly fine, it’s okay-“

Barbara sat on the bathtub edge and held Selina’s hand, her other hand above her own heart.

“It’s the first time you call me ‘mom’ without the usual sarcasm or mockery.”

Selina sighed, but before she could make some sarcastic or mocking comment, Barbara spoke again.

“Okay, I will call my doctor and set an appointment for you, and maybe Ivy if I can convince her to go, it’s about time.”

“What? No!” protested Selina, but Barbara was adamant in this.

“Yes. You were raped,” Selina flinched at the word. She didn’t like to think of it that way, because it made things worse than they were. “And I know you two have been having quite the sex life. You need to see a doctor. And you’re going to. Today.”

“We don’t do doctors!” continued protesting the girl, but Barbara had already stood up and was going through her contacts.

“Yes, when you were on the streets. But it happens that you’re not anymore, you’re with me, you’ve a home and people who care about you both. This is not a discussion,” she put her phone on her ear waiting for the call to be picked. “Who knows what that kid could pass to you. Besides, you’ll like my doctor, she’s nice.”

Which was true, she really was. Not nice like Lee Thompkins, who could deliver a punch and some hostage situation, but nice enough. And she didn’t make Selina’s life with the whole situation. From the looks of it, it really seemed that Selina would be fine – she even believed it herself, as she went to work that week still under the effects of the after pill, the triumph as Jordan Brennan took his things all purple and limping, careful with his words; and she even went to a party with Ivy the following weekend, ready to dance off the uncomfortableness in her guts.

But it was cold, even with the heat on, and even when she was wearing her favorite PJs, and that guy from the country club with Jerome’s smell tried to kiss her at said party as they danced and ended up being punched in the face; and everything kind of looked funny, felt numb. Within a couple of weeks, Selina hardly left the house, not even when she was supposed to go to work with Babs.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t see the worry in her family’s eyes, but she mostly didn’t care. All she wanted was to build a shell where she’d be safe and in control, and that wouldn’t be achieved outside. Not even when Ivy and Babs’ most violent attempts got her out of the house they had much success.

“ _ I’m at the supermarket and I got a green light to buy anything that would make you feel better _ ,” said Ivy one afternoon through the phone. “ _ Name it, and I’ll make it for dinner. Even if it’s meat, ew _ .”

“Interesting…” replied Selina, thinking as she zapped the TV channels. “Some mignon would be nice. Red meat, not any other bullshit. With cheese. I heard Brie goes well with everything.”

“ _ That’s not true _ ,” the redhead cut, but the other teen didn’t give her enough space.

“What about some black rice too? And some colorful leaves for salad. Definitely would make up to that time you guys tried to get me to talk to a shrink.”

“ _ Oh, is that why you’re asking for a bunch of expensive stuff? Because you’re mad at us for trying to help you? _ ”

“No!” Selina laughed, but with not enough rumor for it to actually seem funny, because by ‘no’, she meant ‘YES’. “I’m just asking for expensive stuff because I made us rich again, just last month, remember that?”

She could practically see Ivy stopping in her tracks in the middle of some corridor with soy products, gathering all her patience not to snap. It sure as hell wouldn’t last long.

“ _ Yeah, we know _ ,” responded the younger girl. “ _ You took an unnecessary bullet for it, how could we ever forget? _ ”

On her side of the line, Selina shrugged.

“You guys make it seem like such a big deal,” she said, sounding bored. “ _ I’ve _ forgotten it already, even.”

“ _ You haven’t left the house _ ,” retorted Ivy.

“I like it here, it’s cozy.”

“ _ Who do you think you’re fooling? _ ”

Selina felt her stomach tighten, already knowing where that conversation was heading.

“Don’t,” she warned. That’s how she sounded: like a warning.

“ _ You haven’t forgotten shit, you just keep reliving it in your head. Refusing our help, staying up all night, hardly eating, Selly, that’s not healthy _ .”

“Stop.”

“ _ I won’t! Not until you’re back! _ ” Ivy practically shouted, still managing to contain her temper. “ _ The real you, alive and joyful giving everyone a hard time for kicks! Even Jim misses that, did you know? Yeah, you saved the day, but at what cost? _ ” The Kraken was being released, there was no coming back now. “ _ Why would you do that to yourself? You used to be the most badass person I’ve ever met, and it only took what? Ten minutes to break you down with no repair? I don’t accept that. _ ”

“More like four minutes,” the older teen commented boldly, and she straight up heard Ivy’s sharp, judgmental breath on the other side. “Look, I saw it coming, V, there’s noth-“

“ _ IT’S RAPE, SELLY! HE PUT HIS DICK INSIDE YOU WITHOUT YOU WANTING IT, AND JUST BECAUSE YOU KNEW IT COULD HAPPEN, IT DOESN’T MAKE IT OKAY! _ ”

That was it, Normal Ivy was back.

There was a long pause, then. Ivy had used that argument way too many times with different words, but Selina had always found a way to block it. Not this time.

“Everyone is staring at you judgmentally now, aren’t they?” asked Selina, and she knew exactly what Ivy was doing – staring those people right back, daring them to fight her on that.

“ _ Damn right there are _ .”

On TV,  _ Fury Road _ was rerunning, one of the movies that V had made Selina watch that time when she was heartbroken. She let it there. With a small sigh, Selina spoke again.

“Just the mignon, it’s what I want to eat. Surprise me.”

And Ivy did, cooking the best food that house had had in a long time – meat, and grains, and homemade green pasta, and a pesto sausage fresh and amazing to go with the stuffed mignon – that finally warmed Selina’s soul a little.

That night, three weeks after Selina came back home with a bag full of money, the week before Christmas, she and Ivy shared the bed again. They already had talked too much, so this time they didn’t do that. The younger girl was trying to be supportive, and that was evident. 

There were a lot of reasons that led Selina to strike that deal at the Deck, and they were glad she had the balls to go through with it by herself, even if she didn’t need to. The worst part, for V, was the self-destructiveness of her acts.

Selina once told her that she was a heavy person, and it always bothered Ivy, because she couldn’t see how that was true, or how that could stop her from being happy for more than a short amount of time. By doing the things she did, it was like Selina was letting that weight she insisted on carrying upon her shoulders drown her, and it was one thing to  _ want _ to carry it, just… don’t let it destroy you.

The two girls spent a long time just staring at each other, the lights that came through the windows casted beautiful shadows on them.

“Selly?” Ivy whispered.

The other girl hummed to indicate that she was listening.

“Jim and Babs are married now,” she said.

“I know,” Selina replied, her tone clearly showing that she didn’t get the point.

“He decided to stay, heaviness and all, and she let him,” explained the youngest, and Selina’s eyes cleared under her thick hair, the connections being made. Ivy reached out and moved one of the curls from her eyes before delivering the next words, not like a fact, but like the smallest, more innocent of the suggestions. “Don’t let your heaviness be a burden.”

It happened differently than the last time, when Selina built the crying from her lungs and up. It was rawer, Ivy witnessed, as Selina’s eyes filled and she straight up broke down. There was something rather beautiful about the sound of the shattering of a heart breaking when it happened for the right reasons, she thought. It was scary and powerful and the most important part was that she haven’t given up on her best friend, her sister, and now they were one step closer to getting Selina back.

And they got there, together. What came after was history.

Now, if you didn’t have the time to listen to all of that, or if Selina couldn’t afford to waste saliva, or if she was on a racing police car heading to a rescue and someone asked-

“Why is it so important for you to find her?”

-the way Joe West asked, as the GPS informed the quickest path to the Flash’s location, she’d just say-

“She brought me back when I was dead inside more than once,” as she looked through the window, her whip secured in her hands. “Never gave up on me. This is the least I can do for her.”

 

The police car stopped right in front of the main door of a brand new grow house throwing dirt and pebbles into a line of about twenty people in white lab coats, the blue flower logo above their chests. They were kept in place by none less than the Atom himself, a super tall guy with thunder voice.

“Where’s Woodrue?!” he inquired, and when he saw them arriving- “Oh, hey Joe!” so cordially that it was almost comic.

The doors were all open, and Selina snooped inside the large building, that looked like a mix of hospital and church.

“Let’s wait for the Flash’s signal,” Joe told her, his gun firm in his hands, and Selina nodded, her whip was rolled and ready in her right hand.

There was a lot of information lying around for her to put together, a lot of things just waiting to be figured out, she knew that – by looking at the Atom as he laid questions about Woodrue’s whereabouts, or by how Barry wasn’t in the S.T.A.R. Labs van that brought Cisco, Cait, Jesse and Iris, confirming her suspicions.

Slowly – at least that was how it felt -, she walked towards the side of the building. There was noise coming from inside – screams and the undeniable sound of a speedster trying to do his job. The Woodrue grow house was by the lake and the soil felt soft under her feet. Up above, wings flapped and the teen looked up, spotting the Hawkgirl. She looked pretty awesome.

“Selina?” someone called, catching her attention, and she looked to her right, saw the Flash standing between Joe and the Atom. “She’s in there.”

Immediately, Selina strutted inside, followed by the Flash. From the door in, it was easy to know that all that screaming came from one of the doors, and she silently prayed that it wasn’t Ivy. When she passed by the screamer’s door, she saw that Caitlin was inside it, but as for herself, the Flash led her to the room at the end of the main corridor.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Selina asked, a hint of fear in her voice, and the Flash turned to her. She was small by his side, it was a fact, but at that moment she felt small in herself. “It’s been six months, what if I failed her again?”

She was aware that the six-months-arguments was the one that she used to force everyone to burst inside that building with no elaborate plan, but a lot of time had passed and she had come across so many dead ends that it was impossible not to feel absolutely terrified at that point. 

The Flash looked inside the room, something that Selina hadn’t dared to do yet, and he rested a hand on her shoulder.

“You haven’t,” he assured. Only then she realized that he wasn’t using his trembled Flash voice, so she looked up at him, at the undeniable Allen smile. “Go on.”

The room they were standing in front of was quiet aside from the sound of legs against sheets, as if the person inside was fighting a nightmare. Finally, Selina looked inside the clear, white room, with a white bed and a non-private toilet and shower on the corner. The important part, however, was the bright red hair of the girl on the bed.

Forgetting everything else, Selina dropped her whip and rushed to the girl – Ivy – wondering why they hadn’t released her wrists yet. It really was Ivy, with the freckles and the long, tangled hair. She was wearing white cotton clothes – a tank top and shorts – and seemed to be drifting in and out of conscious, mumbling things that didn’t make sense at the moment, but would later.

“Jonny, no,” whispered the redhead teen, pushing and pulling the restrainers. “Please, don’t hurt Jonny, please…”

“Ivy?” called Selina, holding her sister’s head, trying to wake her up. “Ivy, come on.”

Selina reached for the restrainers, freeing Ivy’s hands, and then held her face again. With her whole body able to move, the younger girl struggled a bit, like her instincts were telling her that she still needed to fight for her life.

“Don’t, please, let him go…” she continued mumbling and Selina held her shoulders down.

“Ivy!” this time, the older girl’s voice came out stronger, and Ivy’s blue eyes snapped open, desperate and unfocused. “Ivy, Ivy! It’s me, Selina.”

“No, not the drugs again,” cried the redhead, starting to curl in a ball, but Selina held her tighter, trying to keep her from closing her eyes. “Please…”

“V, look at me, look at me. Ivy?”

Unsure, Ivy looked at the source of the voice. She looked so fragile, so afraid, but when she actually  _ saw _ Selina, her eyes filled with tears. Her hand reached for her sister’s face with uncommon uncertainty, and Selina realized that her cheeks were wet as well.

“Selina?”

“I’m here, I’m finally here,” replied the Cat, pushing the hair from Ivy’s face. “I’ve got you.”

As if that was all she needed to breathe, Ivy’s body relaxed on the bed and she let out a sharp sob, covered her mouth with a hand while the other never, never stopped touching Selina, just to make sure she wouldn’t evaporate, the way all the hallucinations did. To the Flash, the older girl mouthed ‘ _ thank you, Barry _ ’, and he nodded. Her attention was to another person that day, though, and she was fast to direct her eyes to the sobbing girl again.

“I found you.”


	10. A CHAPTER OF CLOSURE

**** There are some feelings one just can’t describe – the hallucinating excitement of the summer rain, the incredible rush of doing something reckless, the overwhelming long of a forbidden love, the rough burn of skin in skin. All those things were happening that day at the same time in a dusty room of the last building before the Narrows began (no, not Narrows anymore. The name “Arkham City” already was catching on for a couple of years now).

Under the sound of the streets and the bay and the massive Arkham clock and the people losing money downstairs, there were moans and groans and humping and a noisy bed that made everything better. After everything, it was nice to feel good again.

Silver St. Cloud was at the door when she arrived, cigarette between fingers as she watched the rain pour. Poor girl looked so miserable, as if something had sucked the life out of her. She was all smeared eyeliner and smoke now, and it was hard to understand how it happened. It most certainly wasn’t his fault. No, he had way too much energy to bring anyone down like that.

“It’s you, aren’t you?” asked Silver, letting out a continuous line of smoke for a few seconds. “His new  _ tool _ .”

That was the word Selina had used to describe Silver a while ago. It was funny how tables turned in that city.

“You sure are his type – blonde, petite, a foot on insanity. Am I wrong?” there was no answer, though there wasn’t much agreement on the ‘insanity’ part. “Must be, to be here,” she continued, and finished her smoke, throwing the cigarette butt on the wet sidewalk. The other girl started to walk again. “He likes ass play,” informed Silver. “But it must’ve not be a problem, you lesbians do everything, right? You just better be flexible.”

“I am,” she replied and headed upstairs.

And boy, she really was. All those years in gymnastic paid off.

She liked his weight on top of her, the way his red hair fell on his forehead wet with sweat, and how he grabbed her – for there was no  _ holding _ with him, just grabbing -, and it felt great.

“Roller derby doll, what do they call you on the rink?” he asked, curiously analyzing the colorful points of her blonde hair. She had gone for red and black this time.

“Arlequina,” she told him, and he smiled. God, he was beautiful with his marvelous chest hair and sharp grey eyes.

“Harley Quinn,” he said, making the English version of the name into two different things. “Sounds good, don’t it?”

Harleen nodded, but she was distracted by his scar, the way she’d been since she first saw him shirtless.

“It does, J,” she wondered, her fingers traced the deep line that went from his heart to his left shoulder. “What happened here?”

Jerome sighed, but didn’t push her aside physic nor metaphorically, which probably was a good thing. Right?

“Selina Kyle happened.”

“She did this to you? Why?”

“We had a small disagreement,” he explained, and touched the space between her eyebrows to keep a frown from growing.

“Is that what she meant by letting you live last time?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but-“

Jerome was interrupted by Harleen’s phone, that buzzed, and she looked for it among discarded clothes.

“Speaking of the devil,” she showed him the screen with Selina’s name on it before picking it up. “Hi Selly, what’s up?”

Jerome observed as Harley’s posture changed, as she tensed and sat on the edge of the bed.

“What?” she breathed. “Really? Who did this? Holy shit…”

He kept watching her one-sided exchange, feeling that  _ his _ brow was frowning now. The call was only a couple of minutes long,  but it was enough to change the whole mood of the room.

“ What is it?” he asked as soon as the call ended, almost a command, and Harley took a deep breath.

She didn’t answer right away. First, she put her phone aside, tried to tame her hair a bit, and then she looked at him without turning all the way around. She was crying, silent as a flower.

“They found Pamela in Central City. Their parents are taking a chopper first thing in the morning.”

“Chopper? That’s fancy.”

“They have some pretty neat friends,” she replied, drying her cheeks with the heels of her hands.

They fell silent for a few seconds, because they both knew what Ivy “Pamela Isley” Pepper’s return meant, and then-

“What are you gonna do?” Jerome asked, and it was just an ask. Harleen sighed.

“I don’t know.”

Time does tricky things to people when they roll out of their worst spaces. It collides and cuts, holds you down afraid of changes, whispers secrets no one ever thought would know just to mock the beliefs of its residents, beeping the heartbeat of a stranger.

But Ivy was no stranger, and her captivity had no beeping, so time was tricking her, tickling her eyelashes, toying with her senses.

She was growing conscious and with that the memories came in full speed – the herbarium with Jonny and the impossible plants (how many days did they spend there together?), and the mean look in the guards faces as Woodrue accused him of treason, took him from her the way they took everything, everyone from her.

_ No _ – she protested on the verge of waking up, practically reliving the way his hand was snatched from hers.

No.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” someone assured, and she blindly looked around, looked at her hands, felt her body, her face. When did she sat up was an unknown fact, but it seemed like she was in a hospital room, though there was no IV inserted in her veins. “Ivy.”

Ivy’s head snapped up, eyes wide, breath sharp. It was Selina. She had been rescued and she was fine, safe. Rescued and fine.

“Selly,” Ivy breathed, and threw her arms around her sister’s neck. “Oh, my God.”

She held tighter and felt Selina’s arms strong around her as well. Selina smelled of summer rain and cinnamon cappuccinos, she was soft and wider than Ivy remembered, and because of that, the redhead let go a bit.

“What the fuck is that?!” she exclaimed, her eyes going from Selina’s face to her round stomach. Ivy tentatively touched it, first the tip of fingers, and then splayed her hands on the bump. “Holy shit, Selina, what the fuck?”

“Seriously?” the other girl replied, but her annoyance was so fake it didn’t even tickle. “You’re gone for ages, and  _ that’s _ the first thing you’ve got to say?”

Ivy kept holding Selina’s belly and the baby gave her a little kick that made her gasp.

“You’re fucking pregnant! I leave for a little bit and when I come back you have a baby on the way? I thought it had been a few months, not, like, seven years!” Selina rolled her eyes and Ivy was ready to add some comment to it, but she frowned, removing her hands from her sister’s bump. “Please, tell me this is some surrogacy to get money and not a billionaire incubated.”

“You’re so strange,” answered Selina instead, and Ivy moaned.

“How did that happen?”

“It’s a long story.”

The two girls just stared at each other for a few seconds. When they parted, they were on bad terms, had been for a while. They didn’t even remember why the beef had started anymore. Ivy and Selina had been through  _ alot _ together, and whatever it was that bothered them before could stay in the past.

“What took you so long, though?” joked Ivy, changing the subject for now. “Where am I?”

“Well…” started Selina with a smirk and sat more comfortably on the bed. “It wasn’t easy, but we found you in Central City. Right now, you’re in S.T.A.R. Labs, and you were rescued by the Flash.”

“WHAT?  _ S.T.A.R. LABS _ ? CENTRAL CITY?”

Selina’s smile widened, it was rather obvious that Ivy would freak out and she would savor every second of it for sure.

“That’s right. They helped me find you, the Flash and his clique of nerds.”

Ivy’s eyes were wide, her face for sure with the best expression she could ever wear. Being a nerd herself for that technology oasis that Dr. Wells built, all the amazing things the S.T.A.R. Labs scientists had achieved…  _ that _ was the kind of thing she aimed for when she chose her major – not the fact that they worked with an actual superhero, but the fact that they were doing something extraordinary.

“I can show you around,” Selina interrupted her thoughts, making her attention snap back to the girl in front of her. “But I think you’d like a shower first, to wear your own clothes and all.”

She pointed something at Ivy’s right, and the redhead followed. There was an open bag on a chair, and out of it was easy to identify jeans and shirts and skirts that were  _ hers _ , a lot of things she never thought she’d see again, and that feeling was so deep, Ivy even felt a bit lightheaded.

“My clothes,” she mumbled, and Selina chuckled.

“And an actually private shower,” the older girl added. There was a closed door by Ivy’s right as well. “Don’t worry, people kind of live here, basically, so it really is private. And they were only monitoring your vitals, so you can take all that stuff off,” she vaguely pointed at the wires glued to V’s chest, and the younger started to pull them out, making the vitals machine protest. Selina got up and turned off the sound. “You can go, I’ll be here when you’re finished and I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she assured and Ivy nodded.

A bit unsure, Ivy tested her feet on the cold floor of that room. Her toes touched the ground and it wasn’t cold at all, just slightly cool like the rest of the room. They had left a pair of flip-flops for her and she put them on before standing up. Her body was strong, she knew, but her mind was so confused yet, that it felt like weakness.

Ivy stood up. Her knees didn’t buckle the way they did the first time the Woodrue people made her stand. At the time, they had realized (not soon enough) that she wasn’t of good use for them if she was weak. She got the bag of clothes from the chair and felt a pair of sneakers inside as well, which made her heart a tad happier. She was going to go back to her own self, slowly, steady, and that was insanely wonderful.

When she looked at Selina, before heading to the bathroom, she noticed how the other girl was watching her closely, as if ready to catch her at the first need, the way she had been since they were kids – one running from her raging father, the other looking for shelter -, and it warmed Ivy’s heart even more.

“Selina?” the redhead called, and the Cat raised an eyebrow, signaling that she was listening. “Your boobs look  _ amazing _ .”

Selina snorted a laugh and that eased the rest of the tension. Now she could shower in peace.

When the door of the bathroom opened, it revealed a freshly showered Ivy with damp hair, wearing a pair of jeans, her old green All Stars and a sleeveless blue top that matched her eyes. When she left Gotham, Selina had packed some of Ivy’s things out of instinct. Say what you want, she always believed that she would find her sister.

“Is that a…?” asked the redhead, pointing one of the cups the older girl was holding.

“A Flash? You betta.”

With shinny eyes, Ivy skipped to Selina and held the offered cup with both hands, feeling the warmth of the beverage on her skin. The smell of cinnamon cappuccino with extra caffeine was traceable from miles away. Ivy  _ loved _ the traditional CC drink, tried to reproduce it any chance she got, and was getting pretty close to the original flavor last time she tried. Her favorite snack to go with it was-

“Cinnamon rolls?” a modulated voice asked from behind the redhead, who jumped surprised. Ivy straight up squealed and Selina was so glad she was recording it.

“YES!” she basically screamed, taking the paper bag from his hand and opening it. Selina was actually impressed with how easily she balanced the cup and the bag, rushing to take a bite of one of the rolls. “Oh, my God, so good!” she mumbled with her mouth full. “I’ve been eating hospital food for so long, I think I forgot how actual food tastes like. Is this vegan? Fuck it, I don’t really care. I’ll care tomorrow.”

The Flash and Selina exchanged a few looks and smiles as Ivy drank and ate talking nonstop – long enough for Selina to decide that she had enough footage already to send to Harvey.

“Gee, I could cry, this is  _ so good _ , Sel!” continued the youngest, sitting on the bed. She was on her second roll already. “Do you know why there’s so much cinnamon in everything that has your name?” she asked the Flash, and he shrugged.

“Because I’m a cinnamon roll myself?” he asked at the same time she said “Because you’re a cinnamon roll yourself.”

“Yes! Exactly!”

The Flash laughed, and it was funny when he did it with that vibration going on.

“Selina told me that,” he told Ivy, who looked at the other girl over her cappuccino cup.

“Yeah, she  _ loves _ to kill my jokes,” said the redhead and then looked down at her half-eaten cinnamon roll. She took another bite of it, drank a little more of her beverage, and then looked at him. “You’re really tall.”

“That’s not true. Have you seen the Atom?”

“I haven’t,” she replied licking her empty fingers. “Answer me that: do all superheroes have, like, a secret whatsapp group or something? You all seem to know each other.”

“Well…” started the Flash, but it seemed like he knew he didn’t need to answer that. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Ivy told him. The sincerity was both palpable and surprising. “Physically. But I’ll be fine. I owe you a thank you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” he replied. “Selina did all the work. We wouldn’t even know what was going on at the grow house if it wasn’t for her. I’m glad we found you in time.”

Ivy looked at Selina and smiled. There was a bit of sugar on her chin.

“Yeah, me too.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but I have to go. Selina will show you around, and if you need anything, the staff will help you, okay?”

Ivy stood up again and smiled, offering a steady nod as answer. With a blink, he was gone, and she looked at Selina again, blue eyes shining.

“You seem unsurprised.”

“I’ve been working here, V. This place is as crazy as the GCPD.”

“You’ve been wo-shut up!”

Selina smiled and offered her arm.

“Wanna go for a walk?” it was a bit of their Central City internal joke – to walk so close together – and so Ivy took the arm, letting Selina lead the way.

“His smile is a killer, though, am I right?”

“Yeah, he’s a charmer!” the sisters laughed, and Selina held Ivy’s hand tighter. “I was so worried I’d fail you, V,” she confessed.

“And I was worried you would all forget about me.”

Selina shook her head.

“You’ve no idea how impossible it is,” she assured, side-eyeing the taller girl, and saw how Ivy swallowed a lump. “We would look forever if we needed to.”

“That’s a big statement,” observed the redhead, and Selina shrugged.

“It’s true. Remember how Jim never let go of the Wayne Murder until it was solved?”

Ivy sighed.

“Yeah, I should’ve thought about it when I was there, I think, but I was so scared…”

Selina slowed down near the main hall, knowing that the control room would be crowded. That corridor had been redecorated with minimalist benches every five steps along the wall.

“What happened there, V?” she asked, turning to face Ivy. “You mumbled about drugs and hallucinations…”

Ivy took a deep breath, her eyes observing the space she was in. They had visited those laboratories the previous year, right before Ivy’s classes at Gotham U started, and walked those corridors, led by one of the employees, a girl Selina now knew was Jesse. For such a vibrating place, it was interesting how its corridors were windowless.

“Woodrue had some people from his other job to get me,” the redhead told her, not making eye contact. She was concentrated now on picking the skin of her fingers with her nails, a sign that she hadn’t had enough vitamins in her system. “I don’t know why they chose me, but Jonny thought it had something to do with IQ, you know?”

“What the hell,” mumbled Selina, sitting on one of the benches. Ivy sat by her side.

“I know, I don’t get it. I try to put everything in order to make some sense of it, but it just doesn’t. They never cared to tell me what they were doing to me or why neither. All I know was that they injected this drug called Venom in my system and it was…” she trailed off and took another deep breath. It probably wasn’t cool to remember the cloudy days of her captivity. “You know Hugo Strange?” she suddenly asked, and Selina nodded.

“Which part?”

There was  _ a lot _ of weirdness around Strange, a long list of crazy to call him, but he was also a very successful at making the mad people behave, like Aaron.

“The god complex,” said Ivy. “As if he was beyond life and death. That’s how Woodrue sounded.”

Selina held Ivy’s hand again, her body turned to the redhead. She would never know the dimension of the absurd that V had to go through all those months, but she could try her best to rehabilitate her sister into this mad world of theirs, make her best to assure that she would be okay the way she said she would. Mentally. Because physically she seemed fine, unlike the other people who were under Woodrue’s care in the other cases.

“Wanna know what’s the worst part?” Ivy asked, a rhetorical question evidently. “He had always sounded like that, but mostly about plants and the environment. It seemed that he always had all the answers, and I thought it was because he was so incredibly wise, but it was just craziness, like everything in Gotham. How could I not know the crazy?”

“No one did, V, we’re just so used to it, it seems normal,” argued Selina. “He managed to stay clean for  _ years _ . He might not be as wise as you thought, but he’s undeniably clever.”

“Yeah, that he is,” the other agreed, and then frowned at Selina. “Was?”

Holding her breath for a second or two, the older girl shook her head and saw how Ivy’s eyes blurred a bit.

“He was nowhere to be found, I’m sorry. Something must’ve tipped him off to flee.”

“Most definitely,” agreed Ivy dreamily, she looked like she was trying to put the pieces together in her head.

They fell silent for a moment, both girls absorbing the presence of the other. It hadn’t been even twelve hours since Ivy was rescued, and every minute mattered, especially for Selina. Because of that, they hardly stopped touching each other, as if to make sure that they still were there, like twins used to contact in the womb.

“You look fine,” Selina said after a while. “Physically, I mean.”

Ivy nodded.

“I didn’t at first. I don’t think they knew the best way to do their job when they started on me, I don’t know… I had no notion of time there, they kept me drugged for way too long. Just after some weeks that they really started to take care of me, you know?”

Selina nodded, even though she didn’t know, and Ivy sighed.

“I don’t think I would stay sane if it wasn’t for Jonny,” she confided. “Where is he, by the way?”

In some way, Selina was waiting for that question from the moment Ivy woke up, after all, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together once she found out that the screaming person on the next room was Jonathan Crane, but it didn’t make the answer easier to be delivered.

“Ivy…” she started, and then thought better. Under a sad look of her sister, Selina breathed in and stood up. “It’s easier to show you.”

They passed by the control room without looking inside and headed to the elevator to the upper level. Upstairs, S.T.A.R. Labs looked even more like the high technology facility it claimed to be, walking the line between hospital and Star Trek spaceship. Selina was sure Ivy was dying to ask questions about everything – the inauguration tour they took didn’t include the level two rooms -, but the redhead had something, someone else in mind for the moment.

They stopped by one of the first doors, one that was open, of a bright, large room. Despite the clarity inside, outside the window they could see the pitchy black sky dotted with stars. In the monitor that read Jonathan’s erratic vitals, they could read that it was little past midnight. Selina knocked on the door, catching Jesse’s attention, who was concentrated on something in her notepad.

“Hi Selly,” she greeted, her voice low. “Did you get to pack everything in time?”

“Had a little help,” admitted Cat with a small smile.

“Pack in time for what?” asked Ivy, and Jesse’s smile widened; she stepped closer and offered her hand. Selina was under the impression that Ivy only took it because she would want to be friends with these S.T.A.R. Labs people as well.

“In time to be here when you woke up, of course,” continued the scientist, and V nodded, her eyes drifting to Jonny.

“Hi Jesse,” Ivy greeted, never taking her eyes from the unconscious boy. “What’s up with him?” she asked, and Selina braced herself in more than metaphorical ways.

“We didn’t know at first, all we knew was that he was in incredible pain,” explained Jesse. They both saw how the redhead flinched under the words, walking in his direction. They followed her, keeping a respectable distance. “We couldn’t figure out why, for he has no bruises nor anything internal, and then the Flash found his file, with all of his father’s work inside.”

Ivy was by Jonathan’s side already, one hand holding his, tracing a scarred line on his skin with her thumb, but at the mention of his father, she looked back at them. Selina was around when Ivy found Jonathan’s hospital files, around the same time Alfred was hospitalized.

“Don’t say it,” the redhead mumbled, her voice small, and Jesse moved on her feet uncomfortably.

“They developed a new fear serum,” the biochemistry said, even when asked not to. “Apparently with the help of Jonathan’s own research, from what we found and gathered. And they injected a highly concentrated dosage on him.”

“The bully flower,” Ivy sighed, sitting on Johnny’s bed. They seemed really close – the way she checked his heartbeat by resting a hand on his chest, how she pushed the hair from his face when he moved, driven by his nightmares – and Selina made a mental note to ask questions later.

“We are working on an antidote,” Jesse assured. “But for now, we had to put him on an induced coma, or his heart would explode. Maybe literally. He was under a lot of stress. But we’ll find a cure. However, his home is in Gotham, and Wayne Enterprises said that they’d have a place to treat him, if he was to be transferred.”

Ivy scoffed.

“They are not taking him to Arkham,” she protested, and Jesse shook her head.

“No, not Arkham. You know how Wayne Ent. can be secretive about their work, but they said that professor Strange would take care of Jonathan’s case if needed.”

“No,” Ivy was adamant.

“I had Jim personally taking care of his case,” Selina said. “This way, we can nose in any moment and find out what is going to happen.”

Ivy looked at her sister then, surprised mixed with hope in her eyes.

“You did?” Cat nodded. “Why?”

“Because you care. So I care. And since Jim dealt with the Crane case back in the day, he knows Jonny well.”

Ivy smiled, and then looked at Jonny again, her fingers in his hair fondly.

“I told you we’d be fine,” she said, and then turned to Selina, as if she just remembered something. “So you talked to mom and dad?”

“I did, first thing as soon as you were out of that hell hole,” replied the older teen. “Alfred was there and offered a chopper to bring them here, so they’ll come tomorrow morning, just in time for Sunday lunch.”

With shinny eyes, Ivy sighed, and Selina’s heart hurt a little. It would be awful to break the spell of the reuniting, and she’d been working hard to avoid that moment.

“I really miss them, I miss mom,” Ivy confessed, maybe in her quietest tone. “How is the baby?”

“Getting big,” answered Selina smiling. “Red hair, like yours, but she doesn’t have many yet. She’s smiley and adorable, even though she’s a bit of a crier. But she’s really cute. I don’t think she remembers me much, but mom and dad would always have her with them when we were skyping or facetiming, so who knows?”

“What’s her name?” asked V, standing up, and Cat found a chair to sit.

“Barbara.”

“ _ Barbara _ ?” echoed Ivy.

“Yes.”

They were silent for a moment or two.

“Like the Gilmore Girls?”

“Yes.”

More silence. And then, both said at the same time-

“Jim’s work.”

Selina laughed.

“Exactly.”

“Gosh, he’s the worst,” Ivy laughed a bit as well. “So many names in the world…”

“I know, right?” agreed Selina. “But I backed him up, just for kicks. We call her Barbie.”

Ivy was shaking her head.

“You backed him up,” she repeated, sounding amazed. “No wonder I’m Bab’s favorite.”

“You’d never allow it,” attested Selina, both hands on her belly, and Ivy shook her head.

“Like hell I would,” she confirmed. “But what about this one?” Ivy pointed at Selina’s stomach. “What will you call it?”

“Him,” corrected the older girl. “I’m calling him Connor.”

Ivy’s shoulders relaxed and she shook her head again, smiling.

“Of course you are. How did Jim take it?”

Selina took a deep breath.

“He doesn’t know,” she told Ivy. “None of them do.”

“How come?”

“I left before I started to show,” explained the pregnant girl. “And before that, when I was getting sick and everything, they just thought that my system was crashing, because I was working so hard and under so much stress, and Bruce had left the country.”

“Wait, what?!” exclaimed Ivy, getting up. Jesse had left the room and they didn’t even noticed when. “He  _ left _ ? When you’re carrying his child? That bastard!”

“He doesn’t know,” Selina told V, who stopped halfway through her pacing. Her face said it all, but she verbalized anyway.

“Typical Selina.”

The older teen didn’t even flinch.

“Mom and dad can’t know either.”

At that, Ivy went on a I’m-very-serious mode, brow slightly frowned, spine straight, hands on hips.

“Come again?”

“I’m not telling mom and dad, and neither should you,” Selina explained calmly. “Neither  _ will _ you.”

“But you said they’ll be here in a few hours!”

“And I’ll be gone by then,” informed Cat, letting it all out at once. To her surprise, Ivy stepped back, her guard down.

“You won’t be here when mom and dad arrive? You won’t be going home with us?”

Selina swallowed and shook her head.

“I got a job offer,” she told V. “In Metropolis.”

“But you’re pregnant.”

“Yes.”

“You rather be far from us when you’re that vulnerable?” asked Ivy, genuinely worried.

“I won’t be alone,” explained Selina. “I’ll work for Fish.”

Ivy needed a minute to figure out who the hell Selina was talking about.

“I thought she was dead.”

“No one is ever really dead, are they?” wondered Selina. “Not when they matter. Not when it’s Gotham.”

“Why did you kept him in the first place, Sel?” asked Ivy, the question she really wanted an answer to, and Selina lowered her eyes to her round baby bump.

“I don’t know,” she confessed. “You disappeared. And Bruce left. And Barbara needed me. Everything was so chaotic. Had he stayed, I wouldn’t bat an eye, you know that. Or had you been there, you’d talk some sense into me,” Selina looked up at her sister. “But you were gone, and time passed. I don’t know why I let time pass. I guess… I needed something to be permanent, in my control in the middle of the chaos. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna keep him, I just need time to figure out what to do, that’s all. Time to breathe. Away. So don’t tell Jim and Babs, please. It’ll all be over in three months, that’s all I need.”

She knew Ivy would side with her, but it was hard to ask anyway. It was easier to sink with this boat when she was far from home, and Ivy would had a lot of trouble to keep that secret for her.

“What if you decide to keep him? How are you gonna do it?”

“I don’t know yet, I don’t have a plan,” Selina confessed, and Ivy rolled her eyes as if saying ‘clearly’. “But I have Fish and the Pond to help me. I’ll figure out.”

“You know that’s a Wayne you have in there, right?” asked Ivy, though it was more of a judgement than anything else. “You have any idea of the consequences of letting a Wayne loose?”

Quietly, Selina nodded.

“That’s why I can’t go back to Gotham like this,” she pointed generally at herself. “Why I can’t have him there. And the less people knowing, the better, because as soon as they see me, they will know it’s his. Damn, these people here figured out, and all they had to do was check paparazzi photos! You feel me?”

Ivy nodded.

“You are the stupidest smart bitch I’ve ever known,” commented the redhead. “But okay, I’ll keep your goddam secret. Just… give me a call when the little fella decides to pop? I want to be there with you.”

Selina smiled, her chest felt oddly light after that talk.

“Of course. Yes. I want you there with me.”

For the moment, it settled things.

That (rest of) night, Selina slept in Ivy’s bed under the redhead’s argument that she already had slept for way too long, and woke up really early to give Babs and Jim a call. When they picked up, they were on the car heading to the Wayne Manor, little Barbie on the back seat beat them in energy by a long distance.

“Alfred said that we’ll get in CC around 9 a.m.,” said Barbara struggling to find an angle that would catch her, Barbie and Jim on the camera. “I can’t wait to see my girls again!”

“Yeah, about that…” started Selina, feeling anxious and guilty. It would be so easy, at this point, to just tell them. But she had to think not only about herself new, and out of everyone, Connor was more important. “I need to go somewhere, it’s urgent.”

“What?” exclaimed Jim, just half of his face showing up. “What could be more important than a family reunion? We haven’t seen you in  _ months _ .”

“I know! And I miss you guys so much!” she really did. “But I got this job offer when I was in Star City, and they agreed to wait until I found V. I didn’t think they would actually wait, but once the rescue hit the news, I got a call. They are sending someone to get me in an hour.”

“Get you where? What job is it?” asked Barbara, frowning.

“Personal assistant at Lex Corp., in Metropolis,” that wasn’t a lie.

“You are going to work for Lex Luthor?” said Babs impressed, and Selina shrugged.

“More like for Lex Luthor’s personal counselor. She’s going public.”

“The legend?” asked Jim, and Cat nodded. “You met her?”

“Yeah, years ago. I’ve worked for her before.”

“How come?”

“Damn it with the mystery,” Ivy commented, getting up from her seat and standing behind Selina. “It’s Fish Freaking Mooney.”

“Ivy!” shouted Barbara, making the phone tremble. She put it closer to Barbie’s face, so they had a pair of big blue eyes curious eyes staring at them. “Look, baby, it’s your sister, she’s back!”

“Hi, mom,” greeted V.

“Oh, my God, Ivy,” Babs teared up, the camera back on her.

“Barbara, we’re only a couple of hours away,” interrupted Jim, but he tried to look at the camera anyway. “We’re coming, baby.”

“And I’ll be here. Unlike certain people,” she poked Selina, who poked her right back.

“I really miss you guys,” the older girl said pouting a little. “But this is a huge opportunity. We’ll see each other soon, I promise.”

“You’re lucky we’re in such a good mood, young lady,” said Jim. “Don’t think I didn’t process the part about Fish Mooney being alive.”

“I’ve always said she was,” pointed Selina. The car stopped and they got out, Jim got Barbie from the back seat. “Look, I’ve gotta go, but I’ll call as soon as I get there, okay?”

“Do you really need to do this?” asked Barbara. They all knew it’d be her last try. Selina was never one to be talked out of anything. The girl nodded.

“Yes, mom, I do.”

“Then okay. We’ll talk more later.”

“See you soon, mom!” Ivy waved, and the call ended. “This sucks, you know?”

“I know,” replied Selina heading to the control room. Everyone was there, even the SC people that had come to the rescue and didn’t go back home yet.

“You know this is crazy, right?” said Felicity as soon as they came in the room. “You’ve worked so hard to get your family back together, why leave?”

Selina shrugged again.

“There’s no way I can protect a Wayne in Gotham, or at least keep him off of the radar,” she told them. “And it’s safer for everyone if they don’t know.”

“As long as you don’t hide him from us,” commented Caitlin, making Selina look at her. “I’d like to see him when he comes out.”

The teen smiled.

“Are you kidding me? You’re his doctor, I’m calling you as soon as the first contractions hit.”

Caitlin smiled and made a small celebration with her arms before she hugged Selina.

“Call whenever you need, okay?”

“Okay, don’t worry,” replied Selina, and then she looked at all the others. “Guys, thank you for joining me in this crazy crusade. I know I sounded insane when I got here, but you jumped in, helped me, and now I have Ivy back. I owe you all big time.”

“You owe us nothing,” said Barry, stepping forward. “It’s our duty and it was a pleasure.”

They were all huggers, so Selina received a hug from each and every one of them. All her things were in her T-Bird already, so all she had to do was to get into her car and drive north.

Under the reception desk, Selina stopped to retrieve her whip on the way out, and shoved it inside of her bag. Outside, in the parking lot, both she and Ivy took a few moments to observe S.T.A.R. Labs, the second time in the past year. There wasn’t a big staff on a Sunday morning, and most of the lights were off in several windows. Despite the dark sky, it looked just like it had when the girls had come to the opening the previous year.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Ivy wondered. “That you worked with those people.”

“It’s surreal, I know,” replied Selina. Ivy looked at her.

“I’m proud of you, you know?” she said, making the other girl raise an eyebrow. “You’ve overcome so much.”

Selina scoffed.

“Shut up.”

“I mean it. Would fourteen years old Selina ever do something like you did? Spend  _ months _ on a journey filled with dead ends just because of one person?”

“Ivy…”

“A lot of bad things happened to us, Sel,” continued the younger girl as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “You were  _ this _ close to suicidal, and I was so,  _ so _ close to homicidal. But a lot of good happened as well, and I like to think that the good stuff wins. Even if we’re bad people most of the time. Even if we have heaviness, or darkness that threaten to consume us when we’re vulnerable. You showed me over and over that we can thrive and overcome. You’re the baddest bitch I’ve ever known. That’s how I know I’ll be alright. And you’ll be alright. I guess… what I’m trying to say is… thank you. Really. For never giving up.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” replied Selina, pushing down any emotion. And then she said it. “You’re my sister.”

Their relationship was odd, but they kind of had agreed without words to never admit what they had – that sisterhood cultivated in cold streets and comfy comforters. But Selina had pulled the sister card during her search, and now it was out.

Ivy nodded soberly.

“That we are,” she agreed, and Selina opened the driver’s door. “Do you really have to go?”

“I don’t want to, but…” the older girl pointed generally to her stomach.

“It’s not even that big yet,” pondered Ivy. “Maybe we can hide it, like they did with Melissa Fumero in Brooklyn Nine-Nine!”

Selina scoffed.

“As if they fooled anyone.”

“Yeah,” Ivy agreed. “I figured out in, like, episode four,” she sighed.

“Besides, Barbara is a hugger, Jim is a detective…” continued Selina. “I think they will find out pretty fast.”

Ivy leaned on the T-Bird looking up at the S.T.A.R. Labs again.

“If only Gotham wasn’t such a bitch.”

“If only,” agreed Cat, and then she looked at Ivy. “I called Harleen, but I don’t know if she’s coming.”

Ivy said nothing.

“Did I do wrong?” asked Selina, and the other girl shook her head.

“How is she?”

“She was worried,” Cat replied. “Compromised. She helped a lot, really. There were clues that I wouldn’t have without her. But we haven’t talked much the past couple of months,” she opted to leave out the part where she had to call the Penguin to take the blonde from the Deck of Cards. Selina didn’t know what happened after that. Maybe Harleen had found some sense to put into that crazy head of hers. “What’s up with you and Jonny? Did you  _ sexed _ him?”

“God, Selina,” Ivy shook her head, and then- “Yes. Don’t laugh!”

Selina raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m not! It’s just… you always had a thing for him, didn’t you?”

Ivy shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe. He’s just a good person punished over and over for it, it’s really unfair,” she looked at Selina and laughed a bit, humorlessly. “Why are the Gotham children so fucked up, Sel?”

The other girl laughed as well. It wasn’t funny.

“Maybe that’s the question to forty-two, I suppose,” she replied, and Ivy raised an eyebrow that meant ‘ _ NERD! _ ’, that Selina ignored. They sighed at the same time. “Tell mom and dad that I miss them, please? And hold Barbie extra tight, because she’s adorable?”

“Sure thing,” Ivy said, and then punched Selina’s arm lightly. “Take care, okay? Of yourself and Lil’ Wayne.”

Selina smiled, caressing her round belly.

“Tell me one last thing before you go, though?” asked Ivy, before Selina got in the car. “Forgive me for not being here when he left?”

“It’s not your fault,” Selina stated, but Ivy looked guilty anyway. “Look, having Connor was an unconscious decision at first, but it was a decision I made. I’m fine. I’m sure you had your own decisions to keep under your control as well.”

Ivy nodded. Selina knew her well.

“I gotta go,” said Cat, one hand on the driver seat. “Fish would send someone to meet me at the city’s limit.”

“Are you seriously going to have lunch with Lex Luthor?” wondered Ivy.

“I don’t think so,” confessed Selina. “But if I do, I’ll try to snapchat everything.”

The girls smiled, Selina’s addiction to social media was one of their infinite internal jokes. They looked at each other. They didn’t need to keep touching each other as much, like the previous night, but they allowed one more hug.

“Stay away from kidnappers until I return, please?” requested the eldest.

“And after that as well,” guaranteed the younger, smelling Selina’s fluffy hair. It was longer now, like hers was longer since they last saw each other.

Selina got in the car and closed the door, sending one last look at Ivy and the Labs behind her before buckling up and starting the car. The girls waved a final goodbye and she drove away, seeing through the rearview mirror that Ivy stood in the parking lot until she was out of view.

It felt ironic how she came all the way there to find her sister, just to leave within twenty-four hours. It felt wrong, in a sense. But there was too much going on with her now, and she had other decisions to make – away from home, from people who could cloud her reasons.

She drove off up north, to Metropolis, to see if she could start fresh, but there was no way Selina could say she didn’t look back at least a couple of times.

The moment she turned on to the highway, her hair was suddenly blown with the wind, but all the windows were closed, and then Barry was there, on the passenger seat. She didn’t even acknowledge him, eyes on the road.

“That’s a neat car, did I ever tell you that?” he casually asked.

“About fifteen times, if my count is correct.”

“Kids these days have such cool stuff…” he continued wondering.

“I thought I had said goodbye already,” observed Selina, risking a quick glance at him.

“Yeah, but I had to tell you that I know something, and the others can’t know I know it.”

“Had to?” the girl echoed, and she could practically  _ feel _ Barry’s smile. “Okay, what is it?”

“You’re Catwoman,” Barry deadpanned. He didn’t even try to build suspense, he just said it.

He was so factual about it that Selina didn’t even find space to feel surprised, offended or worried.

“Yeah?” she replied casually. “How come?”

Barry laughed.

“It’s a shame you’re leaving town, Selina, because I’d love to learn how to be that chill.”

“Are you gonna arrest me?”

“Are you admitting you’re Catwoman?” he replied, and she shrugged, hands on the steering wheel. “Don’t need to, I already know. But I’m serious, it’s a shame you’re leaving. You actually remind me of someone.”

“Funny,” said Selina. “People say I have such a unique face.”

He shook his head amused. Barry seemed energetic, but also very calm, and Selina knew that he was waiting for her to ask, so she asked.

“How did you guess?”

“I watched you,” he said satisfied. “I mean, I know how a person who just did something incredible and no one knows look like. And your face as Felicity showed us the footage said it all.”

“That footage was bullshit, there are better VHS tapes at the GCPD.”

Barry shook his head, kind of agreeing.

“True. But your face. And the Catwoman outfit I found when I helped you pack,” he admitted, and Selina smiled for real this time.

“Busted.”

She kept driving. He didn’t move.

“So?” the girls spoke first. “Did you call Joe to block all the exits or something?”

“Nope,” answered Barry. “I told you I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?” she frowned. Truth was, she hadn’t even told Ivy about that part of the trip yet.

“Because I trust you,” he said. “Probably shouldn’t, you know what they say about Gothamites, but I oddly do. And it’s not because you know about  _ my _ secret, I just… get it.”

Selina tilted her head to the left a bit.

“Interesting talk,” she commented. “Does that mean the Flash is letting a criminal go?”

Barry took a deep breath mixed with a dramatic shrug.

“I had a rogue just like you a few years ago, and, you know, he was smart, had his priorities, but in the end, he was also a hero. Is.”

“Please, tell me you’re not comparing me to Captain Cold,” she begged.

“How did you…”

“Sara,” she cut him, and he shook his head smiling a little.

“Look, I know you have a lot of figuring out to do. That’s why.”

She didn’t reply for a long time, and they were close to the city’s limit already. Two black SUVs were parked next to the “Come back to Central City soon” sign, easy to spot already, and the darkening sky indicated that rain was coming to the Great Lakes soon, and then-

“Thank you.”

They both looked ahead, at the people getting out of the cars, and Selina let out a sharp breath when she identified someone very similar to Fish among them.

“That’s your ride, I guess,” commented Barry, and she nodded, slowing the car as they got closer. He rested a hand on her shoulder. “I suppose I should get going anyway.”

She risked a longer look at him, and they both smiled.

“Good riddance, Catwoman,” said Barry.

“Godspeed, Flash,” said Selina.

And he was gone.

Selina parked in a couple of minutes just behind the SUVs and it was true, Fish Mooney was there. She had so many questions for the boss lady strutting to her passenger seat, but where to start?

On her insane heels, Fish tried the door; it opened easily for her, and she looked at the teenage girl inside. Selina was sure her eyes were huge and amazed, and there was a real chance she was glowing extra hard when the woman smiled.

“Nice ride,” Fish said slowly. “I’ll be your co-pilot today, what do you think?”

If possible, Selina’s smiles grew wider.

“Yes ma’am, hop in.”

The chopper arrived 45 minutes after Selina left, and the whole S.T.A.R. Labs crew was waiting at the heliport with Ivy. In her chest, it felt like her heart would explode under the Labs’ sweatshirt, fingers clenching the backpack that Selina had left for her, the expectation of seeing her family again, finally, at last, was almost overwhelming. The chopper landed, the door opened, and the first thing Ivy Pepper saw was Jim’s blonde head as he stepped out of it.

Ivy Pepper had held on to time her whole life: the seconds that ticked in slow motion when she first hit an orgasm (it was under Kory’s touch, on his bed at the Bradley’s, and it was  _ insane _ ), the minutes that counted down to the 4 th of July fireworks she got to see practically every year at Gotham’s Botanic Garden with her best friends, the hours that took in dazed expectation before anything grand happened, like her Gotham U acceptance letter arrival, not even anxiety breaking the spell of the boiling energy inside her. She didn’t have to count time in any other way to know when to treasure a memory. At that moment – that factual, real, otherworldly moment – Ivy could see the many ways in which life could be right. Walking to Barbara, Jim and Barbie, hugging her parents, being there (even if “there” still was far from home, even if it was starting to rain) reminded her what family was supposed to feel like.

That was enough.

“You’re safe now, baby,” Barbara said with tears in her eyes.

“We’ve missed you  _ so much _ ,” Jim held her close.

Finally, she was with whom she had to be.


	11. AN EPILOGUE IN THREE ACTS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe that over an year later I can finally say that Bloodstream is finished?  
> What a ride, guys. I got some great criticism here, made some friends thanks to this fic, and not it's coming to an end, at last. I almost can't believe it.  
> I want to ask you to forgive me for taking so long to publish this epilogue. You guys have no idea how hard it was to write it right. I wrote the first act twice, the second three or four times, because I wasn't satisfied with them, but now I am. And kind of proud, also. I don't think I've ever wrote anything this complex, and I really hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did.
> 
> (rumor has it that I have a sequel in mind, but I won't promise anything. let's the third season roll a while longer, and then we think about it)  
> (but if you have any interest in a sequel, let me know!)
> 
> Thank you all for being so faithful and awesome, and thanks Teo (TheAeacusProject) for beta reading this epilogue. Go read his fics, guys, he's the best.

**AN EPILOGUE IN THREE ACTS**

\- Act one: the rise up –

When Ivy Pepper was kidnapped by Dr. Woodrue’s minions, drugged and changed, Selina Kyle and Barbara Gordon, her family, figured it was time to fight for her.

For Selina, it meant a journey (that was also a flight) to take control of their situations. She turned every corner with expectation and faith until she reached her goal.

Barbara took over when Ivy came back. She knew how it felt like to be used and abused by someone you thought you could trust. Her girl needed her now, the way she had needed her girls almost four years ago; she wasn’t willing to disappoint V.

The women of Jim Gordon’s house were, exactly how Selina said once, full time warriors, and it was even surprising when Ivy adjusted back home right away. Truth was that after being alert at all times for so long, she finally got a chance to _relax_ , sleep in her own bed, take one long bath.

Ivy was home, at last, and everything could be normal again. It felt like it would be that way for about a week, until it became clear that normal – as always – wasn’t an option.

That household was doomed.

“You want me to do _what_?” asked Ivy. Now she understood how Selina had felt when they tried their intervention.

“Go talk to Leslie a bit, it might help,” repeated Jim, trying his best to make it sound like a suggestion.

“Because it worked so well for Babs, right?” she replied, way harsher than she intended. Well, interventions sucked.

Barbara raised an eyebrow, and Jim sighed, but Ivy wasn’t having it. She already had postponed her return to school in one semester, which was bad enough, and had put pause on her relationship with Harleen, which was even worse. She didn’t have to add a shrink to the equation.

“Baby, what happened to your room?” asked Barbara very carefully. She had baby Barbie on her hip, the ginger girl unaware of the tension of the room. Ivy stopped short, and it took her a beat too long to come up with a reply. That was a low blow.

“What about it?”

“Ivy-“ Jim sighed. She was being difficult, she knew, but they should be used to it already.

And Barbara was.

The difference now was that she wouldn’t put up with it.

“V, you were found in Central City, the metahumans city,” she said carefully. “Maybe they did something to you.”

“They did!” Ivy snapped, and Barbie cried with surprise, the little girl started to fuss startled, and it made the teen take a few deep breaths. “Every day they did something to me, everyone knows that, but that doesn’t mean I need to go to a shrink twice a week, _I’m fine_.”

“Ivy, you are _not_ fine!” insisted Barbara, passing Barbie to Jim. “You’re having nightmares, there are weeds growing uncontrollably in your room, and you refuse to hold your sister after she got sick, _what is that_?”

“I’m toxic,” the teen said under her breath, hoping no one would hear.

“That’s absurd, V,” Jim interfered. “You did not make Barbie sick.”

Except that she did. She did when she kissed the baby goodnight, and then the girl had signs of poisoning. She did, because she knew that there was something wrong with her, and she could feel the toxicity on the tip of her fingers, but she thought she could control it the way she controlled with Jonny, who was fine until he wasn’t, and it sent her on a spiral of not knowing if she contributed to make him worse. Now Barbie was _sick_ , she was dying, and it was her fault.

“Ivy,” Barbara said. She had gotten closer and was standing right in front of V, who wanted to step away, but she had her back against the wall, head down. She had trapped herself. “Baby, we’ve got you. Let us help.”

“How could you help?” she replied, looking up at Babs and Jim. She felt tears drop on her cheeks and damn, she didn’t _want_ to cry, but there were so many changes, and so many secrets inside of Ivy, it was too big for her.

“You think you are beyond saving, but you aren’t,” Barbara continued, cupping Ivy’s cheek. “Please, don’t give up on yourself, we’ll figure it out.”

Barbara hugged Ivy, then, and even though the girl protested at first, there was no way she could break out of it, and the moment she stopped struggling was the moment the tears fell freely.

To cry like that, finally, helped ease the burden – a little, but helped.

When Ivy went to her room later that day having in mind that she’d clean the place from all the weed that had grown in her sleep, what she found was a beautiful fall garden waiting for her.

The raise of Ivy Pepper’s power came from togetherness and acceptance. It was hard work and constant progress, but she opened up to the possibilities of her new abilities. She had one more reason to keep in touch with S.T.A.R. Labs, and they helped a lot too.

And, at the end of the day, she agreed to meet Leslie twice a week anyway. She liked Lee, after all. And also, school would only accept her back with the approval of a psychiatrist, and it might as well be someone she knew.

 

\- Act two: the arrival –

Selina always wondered which moment was the moment that changed everything. In her head, she tried to remember those days almost a year ago when life’s responsibilities felt like they were too much and she made her own version of quitting.

Perhaps it had been the first day, when she didn’t use the door to climb to Bruce’s room, and he was reading one of those Russian novels that people love so much. She hardly saw him wearing glasses, but that afternoon, he had them on, so thin and discreet that one would barely notice them.

That late afternoon, after work and a run to the hospital with Babs, she needed a shower.

“Wanna join me?” she asked, already taking off some clothes.

Sixteen year old Bruce would _not_ say no.

Maybe it had been then, Selina thought having her own morning shower almost 40 weeks later. She felt really heavy, even though, in cold numbers, she hadn’t gained so much weight. Selina was all tense also, but she had spent the past couple of weeks dealing with fake contractions, so it must be it again. According to Cait’s calcs, Connor wouldn’t be due for a week, so there was nothing to worry about.

Despite everyone’s opinion, Selina moved on with her morning routine. Fish had put her out of the conference rooms since the false alarms started, but that didn’t keep Selina from doing her things – she had, after all, earned her spot back by Fish Mooney’s side and intended to keep it that way once Connor was out.

That didn't mean she already had a plan.

It had been bad enough to just Facetime her family on Christmas, and she knew that it’d be a hell of a lot of work, if she kept him. Selina kept running the options in her head, trying to figure out what to do, and wondering why she thought that carrying on with that pregnancy was a good idea. All of her judgement had been clouded for a very long time.

Maybe she would be back to normal once the baby was born.

Her body tensed again when she was drying off, and Selina had to hold on to the sink to try and breathe. That was _really_ painful, it was a wonder Babs didn't go crazy in the first minutes. But it wasn't time for Connor to arrive, not yet.

The day went on.

Fish assigned her a personal assistant just for baby's matters, which was quite annoying, to be honest. Like basically everyone in Fish's crew, she was a stray, and a stray with her own baby girl, about Barbie's age. Crystal and Stephanie, fellow Gothamites. It _could_ be worse, Selina was aware, but there was nothing she treasured more than her privacy.

There was no privacy with Crystal around.

"Selina, maybe we should go back," Crystal suggested when Selina had to stop yet another time during their two hours run to the mall. "We should call your doctor, what do you think? It's only a couple of hours from Central to here."

"You should call _my sister_ , actually," Selina corrected. "She's coming from Gotham, it's a longer go."

Crystal stopped, avoiding eye contact as she balanced Stephanie on her hip. Selina did not like the face she was doing.

"What is it?" She demanded.

"Nothing, it's just..." Crystal was quick to say. "Uh... Your contractions are what? 40 minutes apart? Your sister won't arrive in time for the delivery if it keeps that way."

"What do you know about that?" asked Selina taken aback. She and Ivy had agreed that they would be together for this, but they had everything planned for next week. Connor would have to wait, she could not do that without V.

"Just from my experience, Selly," Crystal told her. "Stephanie is my first kid too, not all first born babies take too long to arrive."

"My sister Barbie did," Selina argued. "We were in the hospital for _so long_!"

"Your baby is not your sister, Sel," the woman argued. "And your body is not your mom's. You are you and he is he. Total different story."

That was a crappy pep talk, but Selina had to admit that Crystal was kind of right. Nothing ruled Ivy out of her priorities list.

“You know what?” said Selina, fishing her phone from her purse. “You call Cait, I’ll call V.”

They stopped in front of an electronics store and sat down, baby Steph bothered in her stroller. The phone only rang once before Ivy picked up.

“ _’Sup, girl?_ ” V asked excitedly. “ _I was just thinking about you_.”

“Hey, you busy today?” Selina asked, one hand on her belly. The TVs of the shop were showing the news.

“ _Not much,_ ” answered Ivy. “ _Just examining some blood samples in Central. Why?_ ”

“Oh, you’re in Central?” Selina practically exclaimed.

“ _Yeah, thankfully,_ ” Ivy sighed. “ _Have you seen the news?_ ”

Selina paid better attention to the screens in front of her. The headline alerted about the dense clouds upon Gotham and how flights were being cancelled since the middle of the night. It looked terrifying.

“I’m looking at them right now,” Selina said frowning. “When did you leave?”

“ _Last night, came early to see Jonny,_ ” Ivy told her. “ _I was going to go back today, but…_ ”

“Did you call home? Is everyone safe?”

“ _Yeah, I did. Mom said that it looks fucking scary. The Chief of Staff was in the news telling everyone to stay inside, it might be the hardest snowstorm the city’s seen in decades. You know how Gotham gets when shit like this happen._ ”

Oh, Selina knew. She remembered, and she was glad to be far from the city.

“It’s going to be the Purge outside,” she commented, trying to absorb as much information from the muted TV news as she could. “Looks like it already is.”

“ _Yeah,_ ” agreed Ivy. “ _Like when there was a mob war in the city, remember? Except that this time it’s worse, because it’s no one’s land._ ”

Selina hummed in agreement and then reached for Steph, who was trying to get out of the stroller. She held the baby’s small hands stopping her, and suddenly Selina realized that she would be holding her own baby’s hand today. It made breathing a rather challenging task.

“ _You were going to tell me something?_ ” Ivy asked, bringing Selina back to reality. “ _Sel?_ ”

“Yeah,” Selina breathed. Stephanie had beautiful blue eyes, not sharp like Barbie’s and V’s, but soft, creamy even. “Are you near Cait or Cisco?”

“ _I’m in the Labs, yes,_ ” Ivy answered. “ _They are frantic here, trying to contact the Flash to take Caitlin somewhere._ ”

“Yeah, you might want to ask for a ride,” Selly looked over at Crystal, who was on the phone as well and gave her a thumbs up. “She’s coming here. Connor will be born today.”

There was a moment of silence.

“V?” Selina insisted, and then she heard a sharp breath on the other side.

“ _Holy shit,_ ” Ivy said under her breath. “ _Okay, I’m coming. See you soon._ ”

“You better,” Selina warned, and she hung up. She looked at Crystal again.

“Car is waiting, you ready to go?” the woman asked, and Selina nodded. Even though it was just partially. Even though she wasn’t very certain of anything.

[…]

It took forever.

Not for them to go back home, nor for Ivy and Cait to arrive, that only consumed about fifteen minutes. And even the two hours that Barry and Cisco needed to ride their van to Metropolis with all the medical equipment that Caitlin needed to assure that the baby’s vitals would be fine felt like nothing compared to the pain and the excruciating minutes each contraction lasted.

“You know, Fish,” Selina said after a particularly painful set of contractions. She had no idea how she didn’t pass out yet. “It was very wise of you not to have your own kids, this is-“

She breathed holding the windowsill and lowering her head. Selina chose to have her baby at home. Fish would guide her through the delivery, Ivy was her doula, Caitlin the doctor. In the bathroom, the bath was half filled with warm water, but Selina couldn’t stay still. It bothered less when she was moving.

“How much longer?” she practically begged, feeling the next wave of contraction approach. They were so close together now, and she was drenched in sweat; Ivy followed her close.

“Darling, you are all dilated,” Fish told her not for the first time. “You need to find a comfortable position and push, now.”

Selina gritted her teeth, trying not to scream. She understood Babs so well now, and regretted how much she enjoyed filming her labor. This was _terrible_.

“There _isn’t_ a comfortable position,” she managed to say through her teeth. _Why_ did it have to me so painful?

There was a knock on the door, and right after Cisco peaked inside.

"The tablet," he stepped in the room to give the tablet he had modified for Caitlin, that would help her monitoring the final moments of labor and first moments of the baby. "Wow, Selly, you look like shit."

Selina didn't even have the strength to reply, she just stared at him. Her water had broke two hours ago, and now she only had this robe on, her hair was soaking wet, as well as her skin, and she had the feeling that the room smelled weird.

"Shouldn't you be pushing by now?" continued Cisco, unaware of Caitlin's censoring glare. He looked over the open door of the bathroom. "You know, my cousin had her first baby at home too, a couple of months ago. She had her in the tub, said that it was very soothing. Maybe you could try it, is the water warm?"

"Get the fuck out," Selina said, trying hard to stand firm, even if her uterus was protesting.

"Okay, sorry," the scientist raised his hands and quickly went back out, closing the door after him.

"Where are you going?" Ivy asked. She was so distracted by Cisco sudden appearance that she hardly paid attention to Sel, who was slowly walking to the bathroom.

"You know what?" Selina answered, working hard to breathe, talk and walk without popping that kid right there and then. "I didn't try the tub, and I'm running out of options. You insist that I can get comfortable, so let's find a goddamn comfortable position, I want him _out_."

The women followed Selina with watchful eyes, helped her get in the tub and carefully sit down after removing the robe. The water was warm, just enough, and rather nice, but Selina still fumbled and struggled to find the best position to stay.

Finally, her body seemed to settle. There wasn't another way to describe it. Selina got comfortable at last, turned a bit to her right side, which was also good, because she could face Ivy, who sat down the floor by the tub, one hand caressing Selina's shoulder. The sisters looked at each other and the eldest nodded, letting out a relieved breath. Ivy smiled.

She made a mental note to thank Cisco later.

"I was hoping you wouldn't make me get wet, girl," Fish commented, but there was humor in her voice as she joined her in the tub. "Okay, darling, when the next contractions come, I'm going to need you to push real hard, understand?"

Selina nodded, already knowing that the next wave was close.

"Don't worry, Selly," Caitlin said with her calm voice. "We're all here for you."

"Come on, you can squeeze my hand all you want," Ivy offered, holding Selina's right hand in hers. "Let go, Sel, he's really close. All you have to do is push."

She knew. And damn, how she wanted this pregnancy to be over already. It had been so hard, so intense, and now she was dangerously close to holding her baby.

When the next wave of contractions came, Selina gathered all her strength and pushed, pushed really hard, like Fish told her to do, screaming her pain out hoping that it'd help somehow. Everything became a blur, and when the contraction ended, people were smiling at her.

"That's a lot of hair," Fish said with warmth. Selina blinked, trying to focus.

"What?" she asked out of breath.

"Give me your hand," said Fish, reaching out for Selina, who let go of the rim of the tub and the girl followed suit. Fish guided Selina's hand between her legs where she could feel the baby almost out. "Gently," she instructed, and Selina felt it, the soft hair in Connor's head. She felt her heart flutter. "One more go and he might be in your arms, if you push hard enough."

One more go? That sounded tempting. She had been pushing that kid for half a day already, it was more than time for it to be out. One more go.

It took forever.

In the corridor, Selina's screams echoed so high that she even startled baby Steph, and Crystal had to go somewhere else try to shush the kid, leaving Cisco and Barry alone, anxiously waiting. She screamed so loud that no one heard her phone ringing on her nightstand until it reached voicemail.

Forever.

And then-

There he was. Connor. In Fish's hands, the exact same way Crystal had described Steph's delivery, and Caitlin rushed to help clean his airways and time stretched even more before finally, _finally_ he took his first deep breath and started crying.

Selina sat straighter and reached for him, so Caitlin ever so gently placed her baby on the girl's chest. Connor was small and started to calm down as Selina touched his little arms and checked his tiny fingers. Ivy adjusted her position to make space for Caitlin and Fish, who were engaged in cleaning Connor as best as they could, but still managed to stay by Selly's side.

"Time of birth," Caitlin announced, typing on her tablet. "5:16 p.m., January 7."

Connor settled, keeping quiet even when Selina had to gather the remnants of her strength to push the placenta out. He had a lot of black hair, just like his father, and after a few minutes, he opened his eyes, revealing grey irises that were way too familiar as well. He needed only a couple of tries to get the handle of that breastfeeding business.

Selina was mesmerized by him, by his small nose and the way he was staring up at her as he ate. Her baby. Her son.

"You did it, Sel," Ivy said, her voice soft as it had never been, caressing Selina's shoulder. The sisters looked at each other. "You did it."

Looking down at her baby, she felt fine. Selina held Ivy’s hand with her free one, and the sisters stayed like that for a long time. It had been a crazy year, but things were good, at last.

 

\- Act three: the beginning –

Bruce Wayne felt the skin of his elbows scratch when he fell on the rough floor of the small Taiwanese town he’d been spending the past month in, the dust clinging to his already dirty clothes. He had been trying his best to stay clean and presentable, but some things were just not possible.

More often than not, he wondered how Selina did it.

Selina. It had been almost two months since he called her for the last time, and he still didn’t know why it felt so urgent. Maybe because he’d be getting rid of that phone soon, maybe because he wanted her to know that he remembered her.

It was a good thing she didn’t pick up. The words he wrote in the letter were still true – she’d make him go back in a heartbeat, even if he was truly enjoying his trips, even if he was learning so much.

Selina Kyle was his weak spot. Had always been, even when he was too stupid to treat her better.

(Maybe he was being stupid right now, with no phone and just enough money to buy a slice of cake, but who was paying attention, right?)

Bruce gathered the pieces of his dignity and got up again, patting his pocket to make sure that his money was still there, and then he turned around to look at the bakery he had just been kicked out of, quite literally. Maybe he had miscalculated things, assuming that they’d let a kid clearly from the streets simply walk in and order something.

His elbows stung, but physical pain was something he had long ago learned to overcome. Bruce Wayne discovered pretty soon that the hardest part was when he had to overcome the pain in the mind.

The bakery was packed with people, loud as they could be. It had glass windows and tables outside. Since the weather was a bit chilly still, most of the tables were empty, everyone more comfortable in the warmth inside.

That day, Bruce was seventeen.

He wanted a slice of cake, had the money for it.

Gluing his dignity with courage, Bruce stepped towards the bakery again, ready to beg, if necessary, say that he’d stay in the furthest table if possible. Just for a slice of Black Forest.

“Didn’t you just get kicked out of there?” someone asked, stopping him with his hand on the handle.

He turned around and faced a girl about his age, with long and dark straight hair and blue eyes. She was Asian, but just in part, he could tell by her features. She was flanked by two massive guys who looked unfriendly. Bruce held his head high.

“I just want some cake, and I can pay,” he told her, as if she had to understand. The girl raised an eyebrow unimpressed.

“You won’t get any here,” she told him. “Not dressed like that. There’s another bakery in the west wing.”

“They don’t have Black Forest,” Bruce replied, as if it was obvious, and the girl crossed her arms and smiled.

“Exigent. Why so?”

Was it worth saying? Bruce looked down, his hands nervously whipping on his pants. Well, what the hell.

“It’s my birthday today, that’s all,” he said, and that seemed to take her by surprise. The girl tilted her head.

“Give me the money,” she said, and he instinctively stepped back. His reaction made her giggle. “Don’t be silly, do I look like someone who’d rob you?”

Well, Bruce have met all kinds of rich people during his social days in Gotham, so she’d have to forgive him for being suspicious.

“Come on, I’ll put a good word for you and buy you that slice of Black Forest, what about that?” she insisted, and Bruce thought for a couple of seconds before fishing the money in his pocket and handing it to her. One of her bodyguards stepped ahead to protect her, but she only made a sound, or said a word, he couldn’t tell, and he stopped. She stepped closer, just enough to get the money from him. “Why don’t you wait at one of those tables?”

Bruce nodded, and she said something to one of the guards. The guard gestured, and another one appeared from the shadows, positioned between the tables. The girl walked to the bakery.

“I didn’t catch your name,” Bruce said, and she looked back at him.

“I didn’t give any,” she answered, and waited a heartbeat to add, just for the suspense. “I’m Talia.”

Talia. Pretty name. He nodded.

“I’m Bruce,” he informed. “Thanks, Talia.”

She smiled.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, and then entered in the bakery, engulfed by the warm air of the store.

Bruce chose a table and the guard followed him from a safe distance. That girl was important, but it didn’t really matter.

He was seventeen. Life was just beginning.


End file.
